A Special Bond
by Fragments of Imagination
Summary: Hiccup was a strange Viking to his tribe, refusing to be a dragon slayer even though he was the most skilled fighter around his age, albeit a bit clumsy. When asked, the answer would always be 'It's not me'. What's his reason actually? One thing was for certain, Stoick was disappointed toward his son for that. (Warning : Character might be OOC. Don't like don't read)
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Chapter 1

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

_**Prologue**_

Who knows that a feeling of admiration could grow simply by watching something? To admire someone you've only ever seen from a far, to feel affection to someone you've never talked to, to love a person without even meeting that someone face to face? If there's someone who would know about it, that someone certainly wasn't the Night Fury, for he only know that such things could happen after he experienced it.

The first time he saw the boy was a few years back, nearly a decade now, during one of the raids. He was destroying one of the things the Vikings used to attack his kind when he his eyes wandering to the ground below, to a certain boy with reddish brown hair and a pair of eyes that were as green as his own eyes. His first thought was 'What is such a small boy doing in the middle of a battle?', just before the boy looking up in his direction.

The boy was barely a hatchling in his eyes.

From that day, he watched over the boy out of curiosity. As he watched the boy, admiration began to grow within him, for the boy had many talents in him, talents that his people didn't appreciate. Affection, love, and protectiveness grew later on, without him knowing about it, he already thought of the boy as his own hatchling, his own brother.

He was proud when he witness his hatchling denied his own Sire, firmly stating that he would never slay a dragon unless it's the only thing he could do to survive.

XXXXX

Have you ever felt as if you don't belong among your own people? Have you ever felt lonely even though you are in a crowd? Have you ever felt suffocated, drown, when you are living and breathing?

He had, and still has.

He was always different from his people, his tribe, his own family. Not because his small figure, he had seen many other children who had his figure. Not because he didn't have muscle with him, he did, only people couldn't see it unless he was shirtless. No, it's because he was smart, he was more brain than brawn, as opposed to his tribe where they were more brawn than brain. It's because his way of thought that was different from them, so he could see beyond what they could ever see, he would thought beyond what they would ever thought.

It's because he was different that he refused to take a part in slaying dragons. An activity that they saw as something honorable, something heroic, while all they did only killing another living being that was as intelligent as them. A being with a feeling just like human. He refuse to be one of them, to be a heartless Dragon Slayer, a brainless Viking. No matter what they said about him, what they did to him, he couldn't care less, because he could see what they couldn't see.

He was proud of himself for that, he refused to be something that he was not, and for that he always felt that he didn't belong there. Always felt lonely while in a crowd. Always felt suffocated and drown even though he was alive and breathing.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : New story from me, I hope you like it. Review Please ^ ^


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

_**Narration**_** (This chapter only)**

_**This, is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on Merridian of Misery.**_

_**My village, in a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and the charming view of the sunsets. The only problem are the pests. If other places have mices or mosquitos, we have . . .**_

"Dragons . . ." A boy said with a yawn as he closed the front door of his house, just in time to avoid being burnt to crisp by a burst of flame being shot at him.

_**Most people would leave, but not us. We are Vikings, we . . . have stubbornness issues.**_

He smacked both of his cheeks to free himself from drowsiness and opened the door once again, he looked around to see if there's any dragon nearby before running as fast as he could to the forge. He didn't want to join in the battle, but he couldn't stay in his house anyway, not with the front of his house was on fire, the only thing he could do was to help out in the forge to avoid having to get in the way of the battle.

_**My name is Hiccup. Great name, I know, but it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name would frighten off gnomes and trolls, like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.**_

Hiccup gave an 'Oof' when a blast from behind him knocked him off of his feet to the ground, he opened his eyes only to see a Viking heading towards him with his axe raised and yelling a battle cry, only to grin a second later, "Morning!" He greeted before running off to another direction, Hiccup immediately jumped back to his feet and began running to the forge again.

The way to the forge was the opposite from what other people was running to, so he couldn't help but have to running zig-zagged to avoid crashing into the other Vikings.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Get inside!"

"What are you doing out?!"

"Get back inside!"

. . . were what the other Vikings yelled at him as he ran passed them.

It's not like he couldn't defend himself, he could. He was known as the most skilled fighter among the children his age, it's a well known fact in his village, so the people know not to worry that he couldn't defend himself. They weren't worried for his safety, no, what they were worrying about was the destruction that he would cause to the village unintentionally. He was a skilled fighter, and yet he was so accident prones at times that the people was worried if he was out of his house during a raid, he could set many houses ablaze without even knowing.

As he was running, Hiccup caught a sight of a Viking calmly picking on his ear while looking at the all out battle ahead of him, he was too caught up with the sight that he didn't see that his path was on fire, courtesy of the dragon that was flying above it.

"Hiccup!" He yelped when he was suddenly yanked by the neck of his vest, "What is he doing out aga- what are you doing out?! Get back inside!" A big Viking with red hair and beard first asked to the people nearby, but then thought the people wouldn't know the answer, so he asked Hiccup instead.

Hiccup didn't even get the chance to answer before he was shoved forward, he sighed and glanced at the man once again before continuing his run to the forge.

_**That's Stoick the Vast, Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head off it's shoulder, do I believe it?**_

Stoick grabbed a wooden cart and throw it to a dragon flying nearby as if it was nothing, causing the dragon to cry out in pain before flying away in a daze. Hiccup winced as he saw that, _Poor dragon_, he thought in sympathy.

_**Yes, I do. Because he is my Dad.**_

"What have we got?" Stoick asked a Viking.

"Gronckles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare." The Viking answered before he ducked under his shield when a dragon shot a fire ball nearby.

"Any Night Fury?" Stoick asked as a spark of flame landed on his shoulder.

"None so far." The Viking answered as he stood straight again.

"Good." Stoick said in relief as he simply brushed the spark like brushing a mere dust.

XXXXX

"Oh!" Hiccup finally arrived at the forge and was greeted with a grin by the blacksmith in there, "Nice of you to join the party, I thought you've been carried off!" He said teasingly.

"Who, me?" Hiccup asked in answer as he wore his apron, "Nah, come on, I'm waay to muscular for their taste." He said as he picked up one of the big hammer and put it on the wall.

"Right." The man agreed, only he knows that Hiccup's lean form was not because he was weak bodied, but because the boy's body was solid muscle. The people didn't know about it however, since Hiccup hid them from view to avoid getting more pressured to be a dragon slayer, they would only know about that fact if Hiccup was shirtless.

"Yeah." Hiccup said back as he absently brushed his apron, "They wouldn't know what to do with all . . . this." He said as he jokingly do a body builder pose.

Gobber chuckled, "Well, they need toothpick, don't they?" He asked back in a joke, earning a chuckle from Hiccup as well.

Hiccup focused back to the job and opened the counter window, instantly receiving many dull weapons that needed to be reshaped and sharpened, he carried them to the place where he could reheat them.

_**The meathead with an attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice since I was little, well, littler.**_

Outside, Stoick was seen giving orders to the other Vikings before a house was set ablaze by a dragon.

_**See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses.**_

"FIRE!" One of the Viking yelled loudly, catching Hiccup attention, he looked out in time to see a group of teenagers running to throw water at the burning house.

_**That's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins - Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and . . .**_

A fire ball landed behind a girl with blonde hair, the background making her looked like a valkyrie.

_**. . . Astrid.**_

Hiccup smiled at the sight of Astrid, he had been in a crush with the girl ever since he was 5 years old, but he never hope for her to look at him, he was satisfied with watching the girl from a far. Astrid might tolerate all the destruction he caused unintentionally, just like Fishlegs, because she know that he could become a great dragon slayer if he want, but the fact that he refused to be a dragon slayer still remained. Astrid would never date him for his firm refusal to fight dragons, she wanted to be a shield maiden and kill dragons, it wouldn't do to have a boyfriend who refused to kill dragons.

_**Their job might be cooler, but I never envy them. I like to be a blacksmith more, I can create many things and my job is more important than them anyway.**_

"Woah!" Hiccup gasped when his feet leave the ground for the third time that night, "Gobber! What are you doing?" He asked his mentor.

"You don't planning to join then, do you?" Gobber asked him as he lowered Hiccup in front of him.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, "Where did you get that stupid idea?" He asked casually, "You know I love my job as a blacksmith, Gobber".

Gobber grinned, "Good, because I want you to explain to me about something." He pointed to Hiccup's latest invention, "What is that thing?".

Hiccup looked at the item, "Oh, it's Mangler." He answered as he sharpened a sword, "It's a bola launcher, I'm planning to use it to hunt some deer or boar tomorrow".

"Hm, something crazy again, I see." Gobber said in interest. Most of Hiccup's inventions often ended up in disaster, but a few that didn't were always be something great. He had a feeling that this 'Mangler' was one of the few that would be a great invention, that's why he was interested and reached out to examine it.

"Gobber, don't-" Hiccup's warning died when the Mangler sprung up as soon as Gobber touch it and the bola inside shot out before hitting an unfortunate Viking at the head, the poor Viking get knocked out like a light.

"Oops." Gobber said in surprise, he himself only managed to barely avoiding the bola, "What's happened to cause it?" He asked Hiccup.

"I wanted to warn you that I forgot to lock it." Hiccup said with a sigh, "Clumsy me, I should lock it after I finished trying it earlier, now Dad would angry at me for creating it".

"Oh well." Gobber shrugged, "I think this launcher would be a great item." He said to lightened the mood, "Why don't you show this to Stoick and show him how great this creation would be?".

"Yeah, he would be glad that I burn down another house with my invention." Hiccup answered sarcastically, "All he want is me going out there and kill dragon, not use any of my inventions, let alone creating them".

"Well, if you want to go out there . . ." Gobber started, "You need to stop all . . . this." He gestured to Hiccup's general direction.

"You just pointed to all of me." Hiccup said with a frown.

"Yes!" Gobber said excitedly, "That's it! Stop being all of you!".

Hiccup looked at Gobber as if he had grown another head. The blacksmith might be good man and had more brain than any other Vikings in the village, except for Hiccup, but Hiccup couldn't help but wondered if his brain was not enough to know that it the sole reason why Hiccup wouldn't want to kill dragons was because it's not . . . well, Hiccup. If he forced himself to kill dragons, that wouldn't be himself, but just a fake, a puppet. He would rather facing his Dad's disappointment than throwing away his true self, living a live that wasn't worth living.

"Oooh, yeah." Hiccup said sarcastically instead and began working on the sword again.

"Hiccup." Gobber called for him again, "You, boy, are playing a dangerous game." He said seriously, "If you keep that much raw Vikingness contained, there would be consequences!" He raised both his fake and real hands for dramatic effect.

Hiccup looked at him boringly, "I will take my chance." He answered simply as he took another sword to be sharpened, causing Gobber to sigh in disappointment.

"Why wouldn't you want to fight dragons?" Gobber asked in defeat.

"It's not me, Gobber." Hiccup answered softly, his eyes clouded over, "It's not me".

_**Gobber's reason to want me to kill dragons is understandable, because killing dragons is everything around here, it's the only way for me to be accepted by the rest of my tribe.**_

_**A Nadder's head would surely get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough, taking down one of them would surely get me a girlfriend. The Zippleback, exotic; two heads, twice the status. And then, there's a Monstrous Nightmare, only the best Vikings goes after those, they have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.**_

_**But the ultimate prize if something no one ever seen, we call it the . . .**_

"NIGHT FURY!"

"GET DOWN!"

Hiccup's head snapped up and he looked out of the window as he heard a high pitched screech, "Night Fury . . ." He said in awe as he watched a blue flame shot at the watch tower.

_**This one never steals food, never shows themselves, and . . .**_

Hiccup leaned out of the window as he heard another screech, he watched in fascination as a blue fire ball being shot at the tower again and destroyed it, in high speed too.

_**. . . never misses.**_

Fire was usually red, but the Night Fury's fire was blue in color. That's why he was fascinated by the Night Fury, because the dragon was like Hiccup himself, different from others. That and . . . he pulled his necklace from under his shirt, the pendant was not a gem stone or jewel, but 5 big pure black scales . . . the scales of the Night Fury itself.

_**No one has ever kill a Night Fury, and I definitely don't want to be the first.**_

A memory was brought to the surface every time he saw the scales, the incident that changed his opinion about dragons forever. The day when he nearly died and was saved by the most feared dragon in the whole archipelago.

_8 years ago . . ._

_A 6 years old Hiccup was running as fast as he could away from the wolves that were running after him. He was exploring the forest that day, but then he got lost and stumbled into an area where wolves were hunting, so he didn't have a choice but to run away._

_He ran and ran until he arrived at the cliff and couldn't run anymore, he turned around and whimpered in fear when he saw the wolves was closing in. "No . . . please . . ." He begged even though he knew the wolves wouldn't understand him._

_The wolves growled at him and walking slowly closer to him, Hiccup whimpered again and took a step back unconsciously. He gasped when he slipped before screaming in fear as he fell off the cliff, into the unforgiving sea below._

"_Nooooo-!" His scream died when he suddenly caught by something, he opened his eyes and saw how dangerously close he was to the sea before the sea soon before so far from him. Before his mind could register what had just happened, he was back at the cliff and facing the wolves._

_Hiccup was confused when he saw the wolves looked scared at him, but he soon found that it wasn't him that the wolves was scared at, it was something behind him. An angry roar sounded from behind him and the wolves scattered with their tails in between their legs, he gulped and looked behind him to see a dragon that wasn't like anything he had ever seen before._

_The dragon was big, but smaller than a Nadder, and was black in color, the shape of the dragon was more like a bat than a bird. It wasn't a Deadly Nadder, not a Gronckle, not a Monstrous Nightmare, not a Hideous Zippleback, and certainly not a Terrible Terror. The only one left was . . ._

"_Night Fury?" Hiccup asked in awe mixed with fear._

_The dragon, who was still looking at the direction of the retreating wolves until he spoke, was now looking down at him with a pair of forest green eyes that was in the same shade as his own eyes, a pair of beautiful eyes that were intelligent and definitely weren't mindless like what people said about dragons._

_The Night Fury cooed softly at him before picking him up once again and flew over the forest, Hiccup was strangely not afraid during the flight, and in no time at all he arrived back at the edge of the forest. After Hiccup was placed back on the ground, he turned around in time to see the dragon flew away from him._

"_Thank you . . ." He whispered softly even though the dragon wouldn't hear him, he sighed softly before walking slowly to his village._

_That day, he found out that dragons weren't mindless creatures, they were intelligent being just like humans. He promised himself right then and there that he would never kill a dragon, unless it's the only thing he could do to survive._

Hiccup came out of his thought and pulled in his necklace back into under his shirt and jumped out of the window, just in time to hear Gobber said, "Mind the fort, Hiccup!" He immediately run into the forest and up a hill, the best place to look up at the stars . . . and the Night Fury in action.

XXXXX

"Man the fort, Hiccup!" Gobber ordered as he change his hammer to his axe, "They need me out there." He turned to look at his apprentice to see that the boy wasn't even in the forge at all. How the boy could leave without being seen was a mystery to him, no one in the who village knows how the boy could do it.

"Where is he?" Gobber asked in confusion before Hiccup's Mangler caught his attention, and he suddenly get mischievous, "Let's see if this thing could be used against dragons." He said to himself as he pushed the bola launcher out of the forge.

He got a bit distance from the forge and opened the Mangler, "Now, how to fire this thing?" He asked himself and he tried to operate it, he found something that looked like a trigger and pulled it, he was surprised when a bola shot in a really fast speed into the air. "Wow! I get it!" He cheered, "Now, it's time to try it for real".

Gobber aimed at the farthest dragon he could see, which happened to be a Nadder, to check the power of the Mangler, and then shot. He was pushed backwards as soon as he pulled the trigger, but he righted himself and looked up at the direction he shot the bola. He watched in awe as the bola tied around the Nadder and the dragon fell from the sky. "Great Odin." He said in awe, "Hiccup is a genius, not even I could throw a bola as far, as strong, and as fast as that".

As soon as he said those words, a bola tied Gronckle fell right into the Mangler and destroyed it. Gobber's awe expression turned into a sour grimace, "Now I need to explain to Hiccup why his launcher destroyed." He said with a sigh before looking around to spot another dragon, he saw one and immediately charge with a battle cry.

Unknown to him, when he shot the Mangler the first time to figure out the way it work, a certain dragon had got caught in the bola and fell down deep into the woods.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

Hiccup panted softly as he arrived at his favorite hill to watch the Night Fury, he was running to the hill non-stop so he was a bit out of breath. He broke into a grin as soon as he heard the whooshing and screech the Night Fury made as it flew above him then towards another catapult tower, he felt a bit guilty that he was excited when that the mysterious dragon was about to shoot one of their most reliable weapons against dragons, but he that moment was the only time he could catch a glimpse of the Night Fury the clearest.

A blue light tore through the sky and hit the tower the nearest to him, creating an explosion of blue fire before the color turned into red, and in that second he saw a black figure flying in high speed away from the blazing tower. Hiccup was grinning the whole time, but then his grin dropped and his eyes widened as he heard the Night Fury roared in rage and saw the mighty beast fell from the sky. "Someone shot a Night Fury?!" He gasped in horror and shock, "Wha- bu- but how come?!".

No one could ever manage such a feat, it's practically impossible to attack something that couldn't be seen, just like a Night Fury in the cover of the night sky. If anyone could do something like that, the only person that could do it in Hiccup's mind was he himself, with the help of his knowledge in the Night Fury's attacking pattern and his Mangler-

Hiccup gasped in shock, "Mangler . . ." He whispered to himself in realization. The only one who knows about Mangler aside from him was Gobber, and even though Hiccup hadn't explain how to work the launcher to the man, Gobber was still his mentor, he could figure it out on his own. "Oh man, of course Gobber would try to shot a dragon with my Mangler, and he just had to try it on my Night Fury!" He groaned as he ran his hand through his hair.

He was well aware that he grew possessive over the Night Fury as the years passed by, years of watching could get you grow fond of something quite easily. Not to mention only he who had met with a Night Fury and live to tell the tale, even though he never tell anyone his tale with the Night Fury. One thing still remain, he shouldn't have told Gobber about his latest invention. "Oh Odin, it's my fault." He groaned again sadly, "I would never forgive myself if my Night Fury died because of my invention." He dragged his hand downed his face before turning to go back to the village, he had to return to the forge or his Dad would angry at him again.

A loud growl halted his step, he looked behind him to see a Monstrous Nightmare had just climbed from the cliff and was now glaring at him. "Oh, come on." He said in dry humor, trust his luck to get him face to face with a Nightmare of all dragons. The Nightmare bared it's teeth at him and he did the only thing he could do at the moment, he screamed and run back towards the village.

He was a skilled fighter alright, but he couldn't fight a dragon weaponless, and the only weapon he had with him right now was only a dagger that he made himself. Gods know that a dagger couldn't be used against a dragon as big as the Nightmare.

He managed to stay ahead of the dragon while avoiding it's fire and jaws, and just then his luck decided to leave him as his tripped on his own feet. _I'm dead_, he thought sourly as he slowly turned around to look at the dragon, it's opening it's jaws to rip his head off, _Strange that the day I die is the day the Night Fury get shot from the sky_.

Much to his surprise though, Stoick knocked the dragon away from him and engaged in battle. The Nightmare tried to shoot it's fire at the Viking, but the dragon had reach it's shot limit. "You're all out." Stoick said before using it as his advantage and hit the dragon until it flew away.

Hiccup sighed in relief when he saw the fight ended, the dragon didn't get killed and his Dad was still alive, so the outcome was as best as he could hope for. His relief dimmed when one of the 'giant torch' that caught fire during his escape from the nightmare fell, he winced when he heard the tell tale chaos that he accidently caused, which freeing a group of Nadders carrying their sheeps in the process. "Sorry, Dad." He said sheepishly.

Stoick sighed tiredly, "Hiccup." He called as he looked at his Son, "Why are you out here? And without your weapons too".

"I forgot my swords, they are still in the house." Hiccup explained quickly, because his Dad had a tendency to ignore him, "And I'm out of the house only because it was caught on fire earlier".

"You shouldn't engage a battle with a dragon without a weapon, Son." Stoick scolded the boy, completely ignoring the fact that Hiccup had just said that he was only out of the house because it caught on fire, "You need your weapon if you want to kill a dragon".

"Dad." Hiccup sighed as he dragged his palm downed his face, "I didn't engage in a battle with that dragon, okay? I just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all".

Stoick scowled in disappointment, "I see, so you still refuses to fight dragons." He said in annoyance, he shook his head and turned to Gobber, "Get him back to the house, I have his mess to clean up".

Gobber put a hand on his shoulder and began to lead Hiccup back to his house, passing over the snickering teens as they walked.

"Quite the performance." Tuffnut said to him in amusement, Ruffnut grinned and nodded in agreement.

"Thank you for the compliment." Hiccup said sarcastically. If it's the twins who said it, then it really was a compliment since they like to cause destruction, "It's not like I want to destroy the village".

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly." Snotlout sneered at him, "That helped!".

Hiccup simply shot him a glare and began walking again, briefly glancing at Astrid who was looking at him in pity for his misfortune. He heard Snotlout yelping in pain and guessed that Gobber had pushed him down by his helmet, causing Hiccup to smile a bit in appreciation at his mentor for standing up for him.

"I really don't want to fight dragons." Hiccup said as they walked to his house, "I love to be a blacksmith".

"I know, Hiccup." Gobber answered with a nod, he had seen how happy Hiccup was when he made something.

"My Dad never listen to me." Hiccup complained when they arrived in front of his house.

"It runs in the family." Gobber commented.

"And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich." Hiccup continued, ignoring Gobber's comment about how it runs in the family to never listen to anyone, and his action had just proved it. "Just like . . . 'Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here. This is a talking fish bone!' " He finished as he mimicked his Dad.

"It's not that." Gobber argued, "It's not how your appearance that he can't stand, it's the inside, Hiccup".

Hiccup looked at Gobber blankly, "Thank you for summing that up." He said sarcastically before shaking his head, "That's aside, what you did with my Mangler, Gobber?" He asked to change the subject.

Gobber chuckled nervously, "Uh, catching a Nadder with it?" He offered.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, he thought that Gobber would say he hit a Night Fury, he didn't expect the man to say he only hit a Nadder. "What are you nervous about?" He asked instead.

Gobber grinned sheepishly, "Your Mangler get destroyed when a Gronckle fell on it, right after I shot the Nadder." He answered with a sheepish chuckle, "Sorry, Hiccup, but I think you need to make a new one if you want to use it to hunt wild animals".

Hiccup shook his head, "When I got free time." He said with a sigh, "Later, Gobber".

"Latter, lad." Gobber answered before Hiccup entered the house and closed the door, he sighed as well before turning around and left.

Hiccup looked out of the window to see that Gobber had left before running to the back door, he ran out of the house into the woods, he had a Night Fury to find. His thought was filled with worry as he run to the direction he saw the Night Fury fell into, the Raven's point.

He hope his Night Fury survived the fall.

XXXXX

He couldn't believe it.

That night had started normal for the Night Fury, as normal as it could be on a raid night. He was on his night fishing, since it's dangerous to go fishing during the day when the humans could see him, when he saw a big group of dragons flew to Berk's direction. _Another raid_, he thought in boredom, _what a pig of a Queen they had_.

He was always thought of himself as a leader of his own, never one to be controlled, that's why he could fought the Queen's control over his mind. The fallen Queen had tried to control him many times before, but always failed every time, and so she gave up ever controlling him. The dragons feared him for that, since he had a quality to be a King himself.

Even though he didn't have to help the dragons during a raid, he always there to help them. He distracted the Vikings by destroying the towers they used to attack his kind, giving enough time for the dragons to snatch the human's sheeps. He was well respected by the dragons because of that, for he was still helping them when he could just leave them be.

He headed to Berk as soon as he saw the coming of raiding dragons, to help them with their raid and to make sure the human boy that he thought as his own hatchling and brother was safe and protected during the raid. His hatchling never joined his people in fighting dragons, even though he was very capable to kill dragons with his two swords if he ever wanted it, but he had firmly told his people that he wouldn't kill a dragon unless it's the only thing to do to survive. The Night Fury was proud of his hatchling for that, and he promised himself that he would always protect his hatchling so the boy would never have to kill a dragon, so his hands would stay clean of dragon's blood.

That night was no different, mostly. He went to Berk and stayed out of the way until he saw that his help was needed, when he saw that the dragons would be losing the battle, he flew up high before diving and shot one of the towers with his plasma blast. He never missed before, whether it's moving object or not, so didn't have to look to know that his shot had hit the mark. Instead, he found his eyes wandering to the place the humans called as the forge, where they made their weapons and so on, where he know his hatchling would be.

His hatchling was looking at the tower he had just shot in awe, he knew that his hatchling always love to watch him in action, so he would often destroying the Viking's towers with two shot instead of just one. He only need to shot the tower once to destroy it, but he gained two achievement by destroying the tower with two shots. He always saw the Vikings ducking under their shields every time he shot his plasma blast, and he also saw the awe struck expression his hatchling had every time he shot a plasma blast, so it's two birds with one stone.

He had flew away after he destroyed the tower, taking his time flying in the air above his hatchling until the boy arrived in his usual place, up in the hill where he could give the best show for his hatchling. So, after the boy arrived at the usual place, he began to fly up again and dive bombing the tower nearest to his hatchling.

He was confident that no human would ever caught a sight of him, since they were too afraid of him to really observe his dive bombing pattern, only his hatchling who watched him in awe who ever saw a glimpse of him when he flew passed the blazing tower he had just shot. That's why he couldn't believe what was happening the second after that, he was flying passed the fire when he found himself tied in the thing the Vikings used to capture his kind.

It's unbelievable, really. The time for any human to saw him was only an instant, not enough time to aim their stupid thing at him and threw it with precision to caught him, he was too fast for that, he was practically invisible to the human's eyes. Except for his hatchling who somehow always know where he was, but the one who shot him couldn't be his hatchling, he didn't want to believe that his hatchling would attack him, and was proven correct when he saw the horrified face of his hatchling as the boy saw his falling form.

He wasn't worrying about himself when he trashed so hard to get out of the bound, it's because he saw one of the Monstrous Nightmares was sneacking on his hatchling, he had to free himself and protect his hatchling from getting killed by the big dragon. All his effort was in vain when he felt the pain went through his whole body as he hit the trees, the trees might broke his fall so he wouldn't die, but the pain was too much that he lose consciousness.

When he woke up, the pain was not as bad as the previous one, but he felt an intense pain from his tail fins. He was really worried then, if his tail fins was damaged, he would never be able to fly again, and a downed dragon was as good as a dead dragon. He tried to get out of the thing that tied him, but he couldn't move even an inch of his body, he was doomed.

A horrified gasp caught his attention, causing him to tense and closed his eyes, "Oh Odin, please still be alive!" He relaxed when he heard that it was his hatchling, the boy's scent was calming to him. He opened his eyes when he felt a pair of gentle hands touched him, he immediately locked eyes with his hatchling, whose eyes were filled with tears.

"I'm sorry." The boy sobbed before wrapping his arms around the Night Fury's neck and buried his face on the dragon's scale, "It's my fault, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have create that stupid bola launcher, then you wouldn't be in this situation".

The Night Fury's eyes widened, _Why would my hatchling blamed himself? He wasn't the one who shot me down._ He thought in confusion before it clicked, no human could have enough strength to shot down a Night Fury, the boy had just said something about creating a bola launcher, and he guessed that it was his creation that was used to shot him down.

He cooed softly to his hatchling, he wanted to tell the boy that it wasn't his fault if his creation was used against him, the boy wasn't there to stop whoever had shot him from shooting him down. "I'm sorry." The boy said again before pulling away and wiped his tears, "I will free you now".

He soon felt his restrain loosened and he could move, he stood up and unfurled his wings to make sure that he was in a good shape to fly. Once he was done, he locked eyes with his hatchling. "Please be safe." His hatchling said to him, he answered with a soft purr to let the boy know that he could protect himself just fine, before turning and flew away, or try to since he didn't know why but he continuously knocked onto a rock.

XXXXX

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home." Stoick said to the crowd of Vikings around him, he then stabbed the area with the dragons on the map, "One more search. Before the ice sets in".

"Those ships never come back." One of the Vikings argued with him.

"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard." Stoick replied matter-of-factly, "Now, who's with me?" He raised his fist but no one followed him, they all avoiding his eyes. He sighed as he about to use his trump card, "Alright." He said with a shrugg, "Those who stay will look after Hiccup . . ."

"Hiccup is the best fighter among his peers." Another Viking argued, "He could take care of himself".

" . . . by making sure he won't accidentally set anything ablaze." Stoick finished his words, since he knew that his Son was capable of protecting himself.

Immediately many hands raised into the air, they would rather go into a dangerous adventure than to try and prevent Hiccup from set anything ablaze unknowingly, many had tried and failed every time.

"That's more like it." Stoick said dryly, he couldn't believe that his Son's reputaion was so bad until many Vikings chose to volunteer themselves than to take care of Hiccup.

The Vikings then rushed out to do whatever they wanted to do, leaving Gobber alone with Stoick. "I'll pack my undies." Gobber said as he stood up.

"No, Gobber." Stoick stopped him, "I need you to stay and train some new recruits".

"Oh, perfect." Gobber said calmly, "And while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself . . ." He shrugged nonchalantly, "What could possibly go wrong?" _Probably Hiccup would make another crazy contraption like Mangler_, He thought to himself, _but Stoick wouldn't like it_.

Stoick's shoulders dropped as he hear that, he knew what Gobber pointed out; lots of time to himself and Hiccup woud make another stupid invention to destroy the village. "What am I going to do with him Gobber?" He asked tiredly.

"Get him to help me training the recuits." Gobber answered, the best answer he could think to solve their problem with Hiccup's hobby to create strange stuffs, and Hiccup would be a great help to him anyway.

"No, I'm serious." Stoick argued.

"So am I." Gobber answered casually.

Stoick turned to glare at Gobber, "He can spar with the other Vikings just fine Gobber, I know it, but not against dragons." He told his friend sternly, "He couldn't help you without learning how to fight dragons with the other recuits, he'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage".

"Oh, you don't know that."

"I do know that, actually."

"No, you don't."

"No, actually I do."

"No, you don't!" Gobber snapped, getting annoyed that his friend didn't even believe in his own Son's strength and ability in fighting dragons. As far as he know, Hiccup could kill a dragon in a matter of minutes with his fighting skill and smart brain, it's just the boy didn't want to kill dragons.

"Listen!" Stoick snapped back at him, "You know what he's like. From the time he could crawl he's been...different. He doesn't listen".

"It runs in the family." Gobber answered him with a snort.

Stoick merely glared at him and continued, "Has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for... for trolls".

"Trolls exist!" Gobber said defensively, "They steal your socks, but only the left ones. What's with that?".

"When I was a boy . . ." Stoick completely ignored Gobber's comment, further proving that it really ran in the family that they wouldn't listen.

"Oh here we go." Gobber grumbled boringly.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache."

"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become." Stoick finished before sighing heavily, "Hiccup is that boy, but he denied it".

"You can't farce him to be something that he's not, Stoick, you can only accept him for himself." Gobber finally said, hopping that his friend would listen this time.

Even though Stoick wanted to argue with him, but deep down he know that it's the truth.

XXXXX

Hiccup entered his house to find his Dad sitting in front of the fire, a big bad was beside him and his axe in hands. He frowned, "You're going out?" He asked as he closed the door.

"Searching for the Nest." Stoick answered as he stood up, he turned to look at Hiccup seriously, "I will be go for about two to three months".

Hiccup sighed and walked to his Dad, he knew the look, his Dad wanted to say something. "I'm not entering Dragon Training, Dad." He said as he already guessed what his Dad wanted to tell him about.

"No, you aren't." Stoick agreed in defeat, "You will help Gobber to train the recuits".

Hiccup blinked in surprise, he didn't expect that, "I will?" He asked curiously.

"Yes." Stoick answered shortly as he lifted his bag and axe, "Don't get killed." He then walked over to the door, "I will be back . . . probably." He added the last part as he knew just how dangerous the trip to the Nest could be.

"And I will be here." Hiccup answered as he watched his Dad's retreating back, "Maybe." He added just before Stoick left the house, knowing full well that he might get banished anytime now for refusing to kill dragons.

The only reason why he didn't get banished from the start was because he's the Heir, but his status couldn't keep him in the village forever. They could chose another Heir to replace him and banish him against Stoick's wish, especially now that the Chief was away.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

"So, what can I help you with?" Hiccup asked as he and Gobber exited the forge and headed to the Training arena, they were previously working on sharpening the dull weapons in case there's another attack.

"Well, the recuits would still be on their way to the arena, so you could help me by checking the lock of each cage." Gobber explained to him, "Wouldn't want for another dragon to get out while the kids fighting a dragon, would we?".

"Yeah, because we know how good that would be." Hiccup answered sarcastically.

"Have you brought your dual swords?" Gobber asked curiously, "Just in case".

"No. I already told you that I won't kill a dragon unless it's the only thing to do to survive, and so far, I don't have to kill them to survive, so I won't raise my Wing Blades against them." Hiccup answered calmly.

'Wing Blades' was the name of his dual swords, the swords he had made by himself which was as light as a dagger but strong like an axe. He made the swords using some of the scales that he found laying around on the ground in the woods, usually near the spot where he was spending time alone. He knew that the black dragon was always watching him, since he always felt like he was being watched when he was in the woods alone, but he wasn't afraid. He just know that his dragon would never hurt him.

He made the sword with the help of the Nadder from the arena, he knew that dragons weren't mindless creatures, so he always went to the arena at night to get to know the dragons there, talking to them and sneaking them foods. He had sneaked the Nadder out of the arena and to the forge where he asked the female dragon to use her fire on the scales so he could shaped them, then returned the dragon into the arena after he told the Nadder that he couldn't set her free without attracting suspicion from the people, the Nadder had an understanding character so she reluctantly agreed to return to her pen.

The people didn't know that he made the swords using dragon scales, he told them that he made the swords using normal steels then painted them black with some ink. He didn't want for them to know that dragon scales could be forged into weapon, they could endanger the dragons existence that way. He supposed keeping secrets from the village wouldn't hurt, it's not like he helped the dragons in the raid.

"My dual swords are to fight against pirates and outcasts, not dragons. For dragons, I have these." He then raised his belt to show the two short rods he had made especially to defend himself against dragons, he wouldn't kill them, but that didn't mean he wouldn't defend himself if he got attacked. The rods he had with him was as long as a sword and he made it that they can be connected into one long rod, so it could be use as a weapon, just couldn't be use to cut something. "These rods are enough for me to defend myself against a dragon, so don't worry".

"I don't understand why you don't want to kill dragons." Gobber sighed, "You can kill them, I know you are skilled enough to do so. If you kill them, you'll finally be accepted by the others, you even might get a girlfriend".

"Because it's not me, Gobber." Hiccup answered with the same answer he would give every time anyone asked his reason, because it's the truth. He wasn't one to kill dragons, his heart and mind were unable to handle the knowledge that he had kill another living being, one that was as intelligent and have feelings like humans do. "So, I will go and check the cages." He said to change the subject.

Gobber merely sighed when he received the same answer again, he know that he would never understand the real reason unless Hiccup would explain more than just saying that it's not him. "You do that." He said finally, "I will wait for the recuits".

Hiccup nodded and went to the cages, checking everything to make sure that the lock would be strong enough to hold the strength of the dragons. After he finished, he walked to where he could stand without getting in the recuit's way.

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" He looked up when he heard Gobber's voice and saw the man welcoming the other teens.

Hiccup watched in amusement as the teens entered the arena acting like gladiators entering the colosseum, or tried to because all of them, aside from Astrid, were looking more awe struck than determined.

"No turning back." Astrid said as she observed the arena, Hiccup just know that the girl was looking for something she could use to fight dragons.

"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut said, trying to sound cool.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut joined in.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid said absent-mindedly.

Hiccup chuckled, "Yeah, no kidding, right? Pain. Love it." He said in sarcastic humor, he just couldn't understand why they like to get themselves scars like that.

In his opinion, someone who could come out from a fight without a scar was better than those who come out from a same lever of fight and got a bad wound and scar, it's just show who was more skillful between the two type of Vikings. Gobber's case was different, he wouldn't call Gobber as not skillful since he know just how skillful the old blacksmith was, but his fellow teens idea of getting a scar from Training as something cool was considered foolish in his dictionary.

The recuits looked at him before he got two different reaction, Snotlout and Tuffnut were groaning while Ruffnut, Fishlegs, and Astrid were looking at him with wide eyes, surprised that he would be in an arena where people were taught to kill dragons.

"Oh great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut groaned as he scowled at Hiccup.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, "Gobber let me in." He said matter-of-factly, "Just like I'm his assistant in the forge, I'm assisting him in this Training".

"You?" Snotlout asked with a sneer, "There's nothing you could assist Gobber with, you can only get in his way, Hiccup the Useless".

_For my cousin, he sure shows how much he love me._ Hiccup thought sarcastically, "Really?" He challenged his cousin, "Then let's just see how much I get in Gobber's way, shall we?".

"Alright! Let's get started!" Gobber exclaimed to break the tension, "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village".

_A false honor_, Hiccup thought bitterly, _There's no honor in killing another living being that is as intelligent as humans,_ but it's just the way of live around here, so he couldn't complain.

Gobber went towards the five cages in the arena, the dragons inside were growling and roaring the whole time. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight." He said as he walked.

Hiccup noticed that Fishlegs bounced and giggled with excitement, clearly barely able to contain himself.

"The Deadly Nadder." Gobber announced as he walked passed the door of the Nadder.

"Speed eight. Armor sixteen." Fishlegs said the information he knows about the dragon in answer to what Gobber said.

"The Hideous Zippleback."

"Plus eleven stealth. Times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower fifteen."

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber snapped as he couldn't stand the boy's habit of stating fact about dragons, he sighed, "And...the Gronckle".

"Jaw strength, eight." Fishlegs finished, earning a glare from Gobber as the man reached onto the lever and pulled it, raising the log that keep the door closed.

"Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first!?" Snotlout protested in panic.

"I believe in learning on the job." Gobber answered with a grin.

Hiccup chuckled, he had found out Gobber's way of teaching the hard way when he learnt about blacksmithing, and it amused him that the man would apply the same method with teaching how to fight dragons.

The Gronckle immediately hit the door open with her body and charged into the recuit's direction, making the teens scrambled in many directions. Well, except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut who rushed towards her instead, they were just crazy like that.

"Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead." Gobber explained as he walked to where Hiccup stood, "Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?".

"A doctor?" Hiccup offered, he just knew that his fellow teens would need some medication once the training was over.

Gobber glared at him in response.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs suggested.

Gobber and Hiccup sweatdropped, that was even worse than Hiccup's suggestion.

"A shield!" Astrid said confidently, earning a smirk from Hiccup and a grin from Gobber.

"Shields! Go!" Gobber ordered cheerfully, glad that at least one of the teens had enough brain to think for the right answer. The recruits immediately scramble for the shields that were scattered around the ring. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield, take the shield".

"Personally I would go for the one needed for the moment." Hiccup said quietly to Gobber, "You need a shield to protect yourself, but you need a sword to attack your opponent. So I would look for the situation first, whichever needed the most at the moment then I will take it".

"You are smart, lad." Gobber praised him, "At this situation though, you need a shield more than a sword, don't you think?".

"True." Hiccup agreed before they focused on the recuits once more.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were standing amidst a dozen of shields, there's only one that has a skull painted on it, and they both grabbed it at the same time.

"Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut yelled at his twin.

"There are like a million shields!" Ruffnut retorted.

"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut argued back, but his argument causing Ruffnut to use the shield to bash him in the face, and yet he wouldn't let go of the shield.

"Ooops, now this one has blood on it." Ruffnut said after she bashed her twin.

Their bickerings had draw the Gonckle's attention to them, the dragon blasted the shield out of their hands, they were spinning from the impact before dropping to the ground.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber yelled at them.

"What?!" Both of them exclaimed, one in a daze while the other in confusion.

Hiccup shook his head in wonder, how the twins could still bickering in the middle of a fight against a dragon was beyond him. He looked around and saw that the Gronckle scooped up a pile of rocks before eating them, while the remaining teens gathered on the far side of the ring.

"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim." Gobber advised as he saw that the teens were really clueless in fighting dragons, he was too used with Hiccup's fast thinking that he thought that the rest of the teens would already figured out the basic knowledge of fighting dragons.

The teens began hammering their weapons against their shields, the Gronckle shook it's head in response to the clatter, making it unable to aim properly.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asked the recuits while they circling the dragon.

"Five?" Snotlout guessed.

"No, six!" Fishlegs corrected as he raised his shield.

"Correct, six. That's more enough for each of you!" Gobber praised the boy for answering the question right, he soon disappointed that the boy didn't get back on banging his shield and got his shield blasted by the Gronckle as the result, "Fishlegs, out." He sighed.

Hiccup watched Fishlegs get out to safety first before looking at the remaining teens, only Snotlout and Astrid left, and he focused on them.

Astrid was watching the Gronckle, ready to avoiding the blast from the Gronckle at any given time, too bad that Snotlout was trying to hit on her. "So anyway I'm moving into my parent's basement. You should come by sometime to work out. You look like you work out-" She ignored him and moved out of the way, the shot from the Gronckle hit Snotlout's shield and the boy get blasted onto his back.

"Two more left, Astrid!" Hiccup cheered on her.

Astrid looked at Hiccup for a split second before focusing back on the dragon, but she nodded her head in acknowledgement to what the boy had said. The Gronckle shot at her again and Astrid blocked it with her shield, unfortunately, the shield had thrown out from her hand. Without a weapon, a shield, and a place to run, she was trapped.

"Astrid!" Gobber and Hiccup yelled together, fearing for the girl's life.

Astrid feared for her life, she never thought that she would get killed by a dragon, during her first Training too. When the Gronckle opened it's mouth, ready to blast her to crisp, she closed her eyes in fear before feeling herself knocked aside. She heard the blast but she didn't in pain, so she opened her eyes slowly and immediately widened her eyes in surprise, she was a few feet away from her previous place and was on top of Hiccup.

When Gobber and Hiccup saw that Astrid was trapped, they immediately went to her rescue. Gobber hooked the dragon's mouth at the last second and jerked it upwards while Hiccup pulled Astrid as hard as he could, making them thrown backwards in the process, and shielding her from the fall with his body. They both had got to her in time and had saved her life.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked in surprise as she moved away from him.

Hiccup sat up and looked at her, "You okay?" He asked in worry as he stood up and offered his hand to her, "You didn't hurt, did you?".

"I'm okay." Astrid answered as she took the offered hand and stood up then pulled her hand out of Hiccup's, "Thank you . . . for saving me." She said slowly. She couldn't believe that she was save by Hiccup of all people, but then again, Hiccup was the best fighter among them and was chosen to assist Gobber in the Training despite his refusal in killing dragons, so it shouldn't surprise her that much.

"You are welcome." Hiccup answered before he went to Gobber and helped the man wrestled the dragon back into it's pen.

"Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" Gobber said as they pushed the dragon into the pen, "You'll get another chance, don't you worry." He then said to the recuits once he finished locking the pen, he turned to look at the teens, "Remember, a dragon will always . . ." He looked at them seriously, ". . . **always** go for the kill".

They all looked at the steaming scorch mark at the wall, but Hiccup couldn't help but remember his Night Fury and the Nadder. _Not always_, he thought before walking away from them, he didn't want to stay in there any longer, _If always, then I would be dead 8 years ago_.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

Hiccup was back at the woods where he found his Night Fury tied in the bola. The way his dragon fly the previous night had bothered him greatly, he had never seen his Night Fury fly so awkwardly before. Sure, he had only ever seen a glimpse of his dragon all until last night, but he knew that there's no way his dragon could attack the catapult towers so gracefully all those times in the raids if his dragon always flying so awkwardly.

Hiccup looked around to make sure no one would see him before he walked to the direction his Night Fury went, he had to make sure that his dragon had gone and away from his dangerous tribe. Walking slowly to see if there's a trail that could lead him, he found himself in an entrance to a cove, with some black scales scattered on the ground.

He picked them up and immediately know who the scales belong to, he pocketed them before jumping back in surprise when a black figure appeared so suddenly and struggled to climb the walls of rock surrounding the cove. Hiccup's eyes widened when he recognize the figure as his dragon, flapping violently before retreating into a rough landing.

His dragon looked exhausted and frustrated, leaping into the air and flapping furiously only to crash into the rocks and forced to land, again and again his dragon tried to fly only to get the same result. A horrified gasp escaped him as he realized that his dragon was trapped, the mighty dragon couldn't get out of the cove.

"Why couldn't he fly?" Hiccup asked himself in worry as he pulled out his leather bound book and flipped it over many drawings of his invention to a blank page, he began sketching his dragon's form to figure out the reason why the fastest dragon known to man couldn't fly out of the cove. As he sketched, he found out the reason, his dragon's left tail fin was gone.

His Night Fury clawed at the rock walls to try and climbed out of the cove, but he slipped and fell again. He shot at the ground, clearly frustrated, before trying again, and again he failed. The black dragon got back to his feet and noticed a ripple in the water, he crawled into the water's edge and snapped at the fishes nearby, but he came out empty.

Hiccup's hand trembled as he watched his dragon lowered his head with a defeated look, he lost grip on his charcoal stick and it fell to the rock he was on, rolling over the edge and fell into the cove. The Night Fury heard the sound of his charcoal stick made and raised his head, looking straight at Hiccup. Hiccup looked at his dragon sadly while his dragon merely looked at him in curiosity, he couldn't handle the guilt that washed over him from the knowledge that it was his invention that had grounded his Night Fury, he turned around and ran away from the cove, away from his dragon.

He ran straight to his house and into his room, he flopped on his bed and tried to control his breath. He was not a stranger to guilt, he always felt guilty when he accidentally set his village ablaze during a raid, but the guilt that he felt this time was greater than what he normally felt. It stabbed at his heart as he remembered that it was his invention that had stripped his Night Fury of his freedom, it's his fault that his dragon was now trapped in the cove.

He couldn't hold it anymore, tears fell from his eyes and he buried his face into his pillow, he cried himself to sleep.

When he woke up, he saw that it's night and the storm was brewing. He sighed as he sat up, his stomach demanded for him to feed it, so he went to the Great Hall.

"Ah, Hiccup!" Gobber greeted him as he entered the hall, "Nice timing, come here, lad".

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and went over to him, "What is it, Gobber?" He asked curiously.

"Where do you think they go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked him as he motioned the other teens.

"Why do you ask him?" Snotlout demanded as he sneered at Hiccup, "You are the mentor, not him".

"Well, he **is** the best fighter among all of you." Gobber reasoned, "And he got a strong memory, so he could pointed out your mistake easier than me".

Hiccup sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Must I say it?" He asked Gobber, "You know as well as I do that they wouldn't listen to anything I have to say".

Gobber shrugged, "I want to know if you were paying attention today." He said in the end.

Hiccup inhaled deeply, "Ruffnut and Tuffnut." He began, "Your mistake was when you two were bickering over a shield while facing a dragon, you two could get killed because of that".

Ruffnut and Tuffnut shrugged, "We like fighting each other." Ruffnut said.

"And it's boring if we just focus on the dragon." Tuffnut added in agreement.

Hiccup ignored their response and looked at Fishlegs, "Fishlegs, a shield is used to protect yourself, not to be raised over your head." He told the boy, who nodded in agreement at him.

"Snotlout." Hiccup glanced at his scowling cousin, "Your mistake was you were flirting with Astrid, your action could endanger both yourself and Astrid, you could get both of you killed".

"What did you say?" Snotlout asked angrily.

"If you didn't hear me then you are deaf." Hiccup said in annoyance and looked at Astrid, "Where do you think you go wrong today, Astrid?" He asked the girl.

"I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Astrid answered seriously. She may dislike it that Hiccup bested her in fighting, but she respected Hiccup for his skill enough to treat him seriously and not ignoring him, not to mention that she secretly admired the boy for his skill and brain. Besides, the boy had saved her that day, she owed him that much.

Her respond got many eye rolls though, "Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut said sarcastically.

"No, no, you were great." Snotlout argued as he grabbed Astrid's hand, "That was so 'Astrid' ".

Astrid looked at him in disgust and pulled her hand away, "She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves." Gobber told them all.

Astrid nodded at him before looking at Hiccup, "Where do **you** think I go wrong today?" She asked, it seemed that only her and Fishlegs who had enough brain to ask advise from the best fighter around their age, the others seemed to ignore him just because he said he didn't want to kill dragons.

"You got yourself trapped between a dragon and a wall." Hiccup answered as he finished taking his food and sat on the table next to them. He was well aware that the other teens, aside from Astrid and Fishlegs, didn't want him to join them at their table. "When you are fighting a dragon, you have to careful about your back. You can't avoid their attack if your movement restricted by a wall behind your back, so be sure to stay away from the wall, the least is you got enough room between the wall and your back so you could still move at any given time".

"Hah, what do you know about fighting dragons?" Snotlout asked with a sneer, "You clearly said you don't want to fight them, so there's no way you know anything about dragon fighting".

Astrid punched Snotlout at the shoulder, "Hiccup said he refused to **kill** dragons, not to **fight** them." She reminded him.

"It's the same thing." Tuffnut said with a sneer to Hiccup.

Hiccup merely looked at him blankly before focusing on his food.

"Thank you, Hiccup." Gobber said as he got up, "You need to live and breathe this stuff." He then laid a giant book in the center of the table, "The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of".

They all looked up when a loud rumble of thunder shook the hall, with rain pouring heavily outside.

"No attacks tonight. Study up." Gobber continued before he exited the hall into the storm, leaving the teens to stare at the book.

"Wait, you mean _read_?" Tuffnut asked incredulously.

"While we're still _alive_?" Ruffnut joined in.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout added into the row of questions.

"You wouldn't know how to kill something without knowing what that something is, Snotlout." Hiccup answered him absent-mindedly, he was still in low spirit after he found out that his Night Fury got trapped in the cove because of him, or one of his inventions.

"Oh! I've read it like, seven times." Fishlegs announced in high spirit, "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face . . .".

"It's Scauldron." Hiccup informed them absently.

"And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week . . ." Fishlegs continued excitedly.

"Whispering Death do that." Hiccup commented.

The teens stared at the two of them before Tuffnut thought that he had had enough, "Yeah, that sounds great." He cut in, "There was a chance I was going to read that . . .".

" . . . but now." Ruffnut finished with bored face.

Snotlout got up from his seat, "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." He said before he marched up to the door, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs followed him.

"Oh and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees . . ." Fishlegs continued to tell the teens, much to their annoyance.

"Have you read the book?" Hiccup asked Astrid as the girl stood up to leave as well.

"I have." Astrid answered shortly before leaving the hall.

"That's mean only Astrid and Fishlegs who are going to be spared by Gobber." Hiccup muttered to himself before finishing his dinner, once he was done, he was the only one left in the hall and the only source of light was from the few candles on his table.

He took the abandoned book and opened it, he had read the book in the past, but he figured that reading it once again wouldn't hurt. "Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class." He read out loud to himself, "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." His eyes drifted to an illustration of decapitated Vikings.

He shrugged and flipped the page, "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." He raised an eyebrow and flipped into another page, "Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at it's victim. Extremely dangerous".

Hiccup then jumped when he heard a particular loud thunder, he looked at the window before continued reading, "Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight." He sighed as he began to grow bored with what was written in the book, so he flipped through the pages "Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death. Burns it's victims. Buries it's victims. Chokes it's victims. Turns it's victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight . . ." he growled, "Is there anything that didn't have 'Extremely dangerous' and 'Kill on sight' in this book?" He asked in annoyance before he got to the last page on the book.

"Night Fury." He read and looked down, there's no image in the book, only a few lines, "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you." He sighed, "What dramatic details." He grumbled as he pulled out his sketch book and opened it to the newest drawing in there, his sketch of his Night Fury without his left tail fin, "Three times I met him, each time I didn't hide nor pray he didn't find me, and yet I'm still alive".

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

"Have you study?" Gobber asked as soon as the recuites entered the arena, he was disappointed when Hiccup told him how Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut left without reading the book he told them to, Astrid and Fishlegs already read the book before so he spared them.

The teens, aside from Fishlegs and Astrid, froze on the spot. They looked at him with wide eyes, while Astrid and Fishlegs looked curious why Hiccup wasn't with Gobber in the ring. "I've read it seven times, Gobber!" Fishlegs said excitedly with a wide grin on his face.

"I read it twice." Astrid added, "Once when I was 10 and I read it again before the first day of the training".

Gobber nodded approvingly at them, he looked at the rest with a questioning look. "Why would you read a book when you can just kill the dragons?" Snotlout asked to try and defend himself, Ruffnut and Tuffnut nodded their heads eagerly in agreement.

Gobber smirked deviously at them, "You lot aren't going to fight dragons today ." He announced as he motioned for them to follow him, the teens looked at each other in confusion before following him out of the arena and into the forest.

They walked deep into the forest until they arrived at a big clearing where a pile of axes and sacks were in the center of the clearing, they also saw Hiccup leaning on a tree with his arms crossed, beside him were a row of target board nailed on the trees.

Hiccup walked over to them and motioned for the pile of sacks, "Take one, each of you." He said simply before going to sit under one of the trees behind them.

"You heard him." Gobber said as he joined Hiccup, "Take one of those sacks".

"For what?" Astrid asked in confusion as she looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Just do as I told you." Gobber said shortly. The teens shrugged before each took a sack, a frown of confusion was on their faces as they did so. "Run around the clearing while carrying those sacks, keep running until you couldn't run anymore." The teens looked at him with wide eyes filled with disbelief.

"What?!" Snotlout exclaimed in disbelief, "Why are we doing this?!".

"Yeah!" Tuffnut protested, "We are supposed to learn how to kill dragons!".

"You are going to train for endurance, strength and accuracy." Hiccup explained to them as he had enough of their complains, "You need stamina to fight evenly against dragons, so running while carrying those sacks would be the perfect way to train your endurance and stamina." He then motioned to the axes and target board, "You will later throw those axes and try to hit the target board, it will help with your strength and increase your accuracy, you will need them if you plan to caught a dragon using a bola".

"Oooh." The teens said as they finally understand the reason for the training.

"Not just that though." Gobber added silently with a devious grin on his face.

The teens ran around the clearing while carrying the sacks for as long as as they could. Fishlegs was the first to collapse in exhaustion, his size was a disadvantage for him as it's harder and more tiring to run with a big body instead of a slim one. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were racing each other and tried to outrun each other, they waste their energy because of that and collapse at the same time. Astrid and Snotlout last longer than the rest, but Astrid didn't have enough training for endurance and collapse a few laps after the twins. Snotlout last the longer, but he only managed to run another lap before collapse as well.

"Hiccup?" Gobber asked once all the teens collapse in exhaustion.

"Fishlegs had run 5 laps, Ruff and Tuff managed to run 8 laps, Astrid is halfway to the 11 laps and Snotlout is 12." Hiccup answered as he looked at his note book, he was keeping track for how many laps the teens managed to reach before falling in exhaustion.

"Hmm, not good enough." Gobber commented before looking at the teens, "You all will do this every morning, I want for you to at least could run 20 laps while carrying those sacks".

The teens groaned in answer, they didn't want to do that everyday.

"You have half an hour to rest, then each of you will throw those axes." Gobber announced, ignoring the teen's protests.

After resting for 30 minutes, the teens picked an axe for each of them and stand across one of the targets. They threw the axes at the targets, Astrid and Snotlout hit the mark while the twins missed a few inches from the targets, Fishlegs axe missed the target completely and went farther than the target.

"One point for Astrid and Snotlout." Hiccup announced as he marked a point beside their name on his note book.

Gobber nodded as he looked towards the teens, he waited until all of them get ready to throw the axes before asking, "Who knows the name of the dragon that spray acid instead of fire?".

Gobber's question surprised the teens and all of them, aside from Astrid, missed their targets. "What?" The teens, aside from Fishlegs, asked in confusion as they looked at Gobber.

"Changewing!" Fishlegs answered Gobber's question.

Hiccup marked another point for Astrid and one point for Fishlegs, "One point for Astrid for hitting the target, one point for Fishlegs for answering the question." He announced again.

They looked at him in confusion while Gobber shot them a grin, "You will each receive a point for hitting the target and answering the question, if you can hit the target and answer the question at the same time, you got two points." He explained to them, "The more you get the points, the better, so whoever got the fewest point will clean the dragon pens after Hiccup finished feeding them".

"What?!" The trainees exclaimed in shock.

Gobber laughed evilly, "Now you are regretting that you didn't read the book when I told you, aren't you?" He asked before motioning to the targets again, "I will ask a question each time you will throw those axes, so get ready!".

Astrid had a look of determination on her face, she knew that she could hit her target and answer the question right. Fishlegs half worried and half relieved, worried because he couldn't hit the target but relieved since he knew more about dragons than the other teens. The rest paled and grew nervous, Snotlout missed his target earlier since he was surprised by Gobber's question, the twins didn't even know if they could hit their targets, let alone answering Gobber's questions while throwing their axes.

"Get ready!" Gobber yelled and the teens hurriedly picked up their axes, "What's the name of a dragon that spray scalding water?!" He asked as the teens get ready to throw the axes again.

"_Oh! I've read it like, seven times." Fishlegs announced in high spirit,__ "__There's this water dragon that sprays boiling__water at your face . . ."._

"_It's Scauldron." Hiccup informed them absently._

Astrid remembered what Fishlegs and Hiccup said before they left the Great Hall and smirked to herlself, "Scauldron!" She and Fishlegs answered confidently. She hit her target while Fishlegs missed his target by a few inches above it, at least he didn't throw it way off course like before.

"Two points for Astrid, one for Fishlegs." Hiccup announced as he marked their points.

These continued until Gobber ran out of questions to be asked at the teens, by the time it happened, the teens were panting heavily and many of the trees had marks on it from the time the teens missed their targets.

"So, how many they got, Hiccup?" Gobber asked his apprentice and assistant.

"Astrid hit the target 30 times and answered 18 questions, the total is 48 points." Hiccup began as he counted the teen's scores, "Fishlegs hit the targets 8 times and answered 24 questions, the total is 32 points. Snotlout hit the target 16 times and answered 4 questions, the total is 20 points. Ruffnut hit the target 10 times and answered 3 questions while Tuffnut hit the target 11 times and answered 2 questions, both got 13 points".

"That means . . ." Gobber smirked evilly at the twins, "You have to clean the pens, Ruffnut and Tuffnut".

Astrid looked satisfied hearing the announcement, Fishlegs and Snotlout looked relieved, while the twins groaned in defeat. Hiccup closed his book and put it inside his vest as he stood up, "Alright, I will feed the dragons now." He said as he began walking, "I will call you two once I finished".

"Don't call us so we don't have to clean the pens!" Tuffnut yelled to Hiccup, earning a smack from Gobber.

"Make sure to call them, Hiccup!" Gobber yelled before Hiccup got out of earshot, Hiccup gave a thumb up in answer without turning to look at his mentor.

Hiccup headed for the dock to fetch the cart carrying baskets of fishes for the dragons. He went back to the arena and dumped all of them onto the floor, "Okay, that's disgusting." He said to himself as he saw the pile of fishes, even though he had been the one in charge of feeding the dragons for a year now, he still couldn't get used hearing the wet slick of when the fishes being poured from the baskets.

_Wait_, Hiccup blinked as he remembered something, _Didn't my Night Fury failed to catch fish yesterday? What if he is starving right now?_ He bit his lip as guilt washed over him again, he picked up some fishes and put them into a basket then brought them away from the rest of the fishes, he would bring them for his dragon later.

"Alright, you lot." Hiccup said out loud so the dragons could hear him, "I brought food for you, so don't attack me." And he promptly opened all of the pens, "Enjoy your food." He said before walking to where he usually stood while watching the other teens trained, to give privacy to the dragons who were still unease with him around.

The first to walked out was the Nadder, she saw him and immediately went to him and nuzzled him. Hiccup laughed, "Nice to see you too, Stormfly." He greeted the blue and yellow dragon.

For 5 years now he had sneaked out of his house at night to visit the dragons and get to know them, but now he didn't have to sneak out again since he was the one in charge to feed the dragons, except if he wanted to visit them at night. He had named all of the dragons after getting to know them. The Deadly Nadder was Stormfly, the Gronckle was Meatlug, the two heads of Zippleback were Barf and Belch, the Terrible Terror was Sharpshot, and the Monstrous Nightmare was Hookfang. Stormfly, Sharpshot, and Meatlug were friendly with him and like to be in his presence, Barf and Belch were neutral around him, while Hookfang was still wary of him because he was the newest from them all, he had just get captured in the last raid.

Hearing his voice, Sharpshot and Meatlug immediately jogged out of their pens and went to him, Sharpshot went to his shoulder while Meatlug nuzzled his chest. Hiccup grinned at them, "I miss you guys too." He said softly, "But I couldn't be here long, there's a starving Night Fury in the woods, he's trapped there, so I need to bring food to him too. Eat up, you guys, I will visit you tonight so I can tell you what happened with the Night Fury".

The three dragons chirped at him before went to the pile of fishes and began eating, joined by the Zippleback and the Nightmare. He watched them eat with a smile on his face, watching the dragons eating their food always felt relaxing to him, he felt content like he was watching a happy family, something that he didn't have for his Dad had always been disappointed with him for being himself.

Once the dragons finished their food, Hiccup gof them back into their pens and locked them, he always apologized to the dragons that he couldn't free them or he would get in a dangerous situation since he felt bad for locking them like that.

Hiccup then went straight to the cove, he walked down the path way to the bottom of the cove and looked around for his dragon. A soft growl from behind him told him his dragon's location, he turned around and saw his dragon slowly walked to him. He blinked as that was the first time his dragon ever saw him with slitted eyes, normally his dragon's eyes were big and a bit round that make him looked adorable.

Hiccup let the basket down and pulled a fish before offering it to his dragon silently, he didn't know how his dragon would react when his eyes were slitted like that, so he wanted to be cautious.

His dragon growled at him and stared at something in his vest, he blinked and moved his vest and saw that he had his dagger slipped into his belt. His eyes widened as he realized that his dragon was being cautious as well since he got a weapon with him, he immediately pulled the dagger and dropped it to the ground to show that he wouldn't harm the Night Fury, the said dragon moved his head towards the lake direction in response. Hiccup picked the dagger with his foot and threw it to the lake, he was then amused when his dragon's posture wasn't agressive anymore, his dragon even looked cute as he sat up and looked at him with big and round eyes, looking like an innocent puppy.

Hiccup smiled at his dragon, he offered the fish again, "Here." He said softly, "I bet you are hungry." His dragon immediately approached him and opened his mouth, "Huh? Toothless? I could have sworn you had-" He was cut off when small, and yet sharp, white teeth shot out from the gums and his dragon snatched the fish from his hand, " . . . teeth." He finished as he stared at his dragon in awe, "You got retractable teeth, huh? What a unique dragon you are".

The Night Fury cooed at him and looked at the rest of the fishes, Hiccup smiled and poured out the fishes from the basket, it's not as much as the one from the arena got, but at least it should be enough until he could get more for his dragon tomorrow. His dragon let out a happy purr and began eating, Hiccup sat down near his dragon as he watched the dragon eat, just like when he feed the other dragons, he smiled contently as he watched his dragon eat.

He blinked though when the Night Fury looked at him when he finished his food, "Are you still hungry?" Hiccup asked when his dragon sniffed at him, "I'm sorry, but I don't have anymore." He said with an apologetic expression.

His dragon looked straight at his eyes before the black dragon began making odd sound, and before he know it, he had a lap full of the tail part of a fish. "Eew." He grimaced at the sight and smell of the regurgitated fish, he looked at the dragon with questioning gaze.

He watched as his dragon sat up like a human would and stared back at him, after a moment of staring at each other, his dragon looked at the fish before looking up at him. Hiccup's eyes widened as he looked at the fish and then up at his dragon, _He wants me to eat this?_ He thought in disbelief, he looked at the expectant gaze of his dragon and sighed before lifting up the fish to his face, he hesitated a bit before closing his eyes and bit into the fish.

The taste was . . . in a word, awful. He had to force himself not to throw up right there and then, he opened his eyes and looked at his dragon, he forced himself to smile and make an appreciating noise as he offered the fish to the dragon again in hope the dragon would finish it for him. No such luck, not only that his dragon didn't eat the fish again, but he made a swallowing gesture, telling Hiccup to swallow the fish in his mouth.

Hiccup looked at his dragon with a disbelieving look before sighing heavily and took a big gulp, he nearly throwing it up but then forced himself to swallow it. Once the fish downed his throat, he shuddered at the awful taste. Then remembering his dragon, he give a half smile half grimace at the Night Fury.

The Night Fury narrowed his eyes at Hiccup before trying to copy the smile, it's an awkward smile and looked a bit unnatural for the dragon, but a smile nonetheless. Hiccup looked at his dragon in awe and unconsciously lifting a hand to pet him before he remembered that his invention was the cause for the downfall of his dragon, guilt washed over him once again and he lowered his hand, he didn't feel like he had the right to touch his dragon.

His dragon's smile disappeared and the dragon looked at him curiously before walking away, a few feet away from Hiccup, the dragon burnt the ground with his fire before laying on it and get comfortable. Hiccup watched his dragon with sadness and guilt when the dragon looked up at the sound of a bird chirping at it's nest, the dragon looked the bird fly away with something like longing in his eyes before laying his head on the ground and proceed to sleep.

Hiccup sighed and looked around for something to do, he didn't want to go back into an empty home, so he ended up using his free time sitting on a roch and drew many things on the ground in front of him. He didn't know how long he sat there and draw, but he noticed when his dragon watched him from behind as he was in the middle of drawing the Night Fury.

"I'm sorry." Hiccup said softly as he keep drawing but in slower pace, "It's all my fault, if only I didn't made Mangler, then you would still flying freely in the sky." He finished his drawing and looked up at his dragon with sad eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry".

His dragon cooed softly at him before looking at the drawing he had made, his eyes brightened before walking away to one of the trees in the cove. Hiccup watched in interest as the dragon brought down a whole branch that was as long as the dragon itself and began made a drawing on the ground, the dragon circling around him and nearly smacked him with the tree before stopping.

The Night Fury looked at his drawing with a nod of satisfaction, he made the drawing was for a reason. He didn't like it when the human he care like his own hatchling and brother was sad, so he made a drawing of the boy to cheer him up.

He caught a movement and looked up at his hatchling brother, the boy had stood up and was looking at the drawing with wonder shown in his eyes. The Night Fury purred happily as he noticed that the sadness had disappeared from the boy's eyes, but then he growled unhappily when his brother at heart stepped on a line of his drawing, the boy flinched and raised his foot back up while looking at him.

Then, as if to tease him, the boy stepped on the line two more times, each earning a growl from the dragon, before stepping over the line. The dragon's ears raised before purring in approval at the boy, the boy smiled at him. The Night Fury then followed the boy's form as he danced his way through the drawing, he walked following the boy until he got right behind the boy.

Hiccup was feeling better as he danced his way through the drawing his dragon made, his guilt forgotten and only wonder remain. When he felt a warm breath from behind him, he stopped his movement and looked back in surprise, he didn't noticed that he had gotten right in front of the dragon. His wonder turned into longing as he stared at his dragon, he gave into the temptation and raised his hand, he wanted to touch his dragon, the one who was always around him even though never showing himself.

His dragon softly growled at him and he froze, he bit his lower lip as he felt like he was being rejected, it hurt. He lowered his hand with a sigh before noticing the look on his dragon's face, the dragon's eyes were expectant, as if waiting for him to do something.

_Trust_, his mind supplied for him. He didn't know how he know it, but he just know that his dragon was waiting for him to do something that showed that the dragon could trust him. To show someone that they could trust another was to show a sign of trust, because a feeling of trust was mutual. So, Hiccup lowered his head and closed his eyes before slowly raising his hand again, stopping when he felt his dragon's beath on his palm.

He was giving his trust to his dragon, what he did showed his dragon that he trust the dragon not to bite his hand off, and he was giving a choice to the dragon, a choice to trust him as well or not.

Hiccup held his breath as he waited, he then felt something warm on his palm and opened his eyes, he looked at his dragon and saw that the dragon had touched his hand with his head, the dragon's eyes closed as a sign of trust.

The Night Fury opened his eyes and locked gaze with Hiccup, the dragon then purred and began nuzzling his hand. A warmth feeling spread through Hiccup's chest and he smiled warmly at the dragon, "Thank you." He whispered softly as his vision blured a bit, he blinked to clear it. The dragon looked up at him just as a single tear escaped his eyes and downed his cheek, the dragon cooed at him again and Hiccup couldn't stop himself, he threw himself onto the dragon and hugged him.

The second he felt the warm scale of his dragon on his palm, he knew. He knew that he wasn't alone anymore, that he finally had a real friend, someone who accepted him for him.

The dragons from the arena might be his companion, he feed them and they like him because he treated them gently. They were friendly to him but not his friend yet, they were still cautious of him sometimes, they still need more times until he and the dragons could be real friends who would be there for each other.

His Night Fury was his real friend, he just knew that he could count on the dragon to help him when he need it, and he know that even if he had a weapon with him again, the dragon wouldn't be wary of him anymore. The dragon trust him not to attack, not to hurt the dragon, and that was the core of friendship. Trust.

"Thank you." Hiccup repeated, a genuine gratitude filled him and happiness wrapped around him, "You don't know how much this mean to me".

The Night Fury purred and covered Hiccup with his wings, hugging him back using the wings.

For the first time in his life, the constant suffocation he felt when he was among his tribe had finally vanished, and the loneliness he always felt had disappeared as he know that he had a place where he belong now. He had found a place where he could always return to, someone he could be himself without worrying about anything. He finally found a home, and that home was wherever his dragon would be.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : I love this part of the movie, so even though I had to make a few adjustment to suit the story I made, I wanted to add it. I hope you like it. Review Please ^ ^


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

"Yaaaah!" Astrid yelled as she hit the Nadder's head with the blunt side of her axe, causing the Nadder to yelped in pain and ran off.

"Good job, Astrid." Gobber praised as he wrestled the Nadder back to it's pen, "Hiccup, tell them what they do wrong today, or if they managed to do something right this time".

Hiccup, who was watching the whole training session that day with Gobber, sighed in response. "Fishlegs." He called for the boy's attention, he smiled once the other boy looked at him, "You did good with using the shield to protect yourself this time, and not your arm".

Fishlegs grinned happily, "Yeah!" He cheered, relieved that he didn't make a mistake that day.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut." He looked at the twins with a bored look this time, "You two were great in finding the Nadder's blind spot, but you spoil your chance by bickering with each other. Late one second to react and you wouldn't be alive now, be more careful".

The twins only shrugged in answer.

"Snotlout." Hiccup began as he looked at his cousin before sighing heavily, "Again with flirting problem, the Nadder even laughed at you".

The twins laughed at that while Astrid smirked in amusement, it's true that the dragon made a noise that sounded as if the Nadder was laughing at Snotlout when the axe that he threw missed by a feet from the Nadder. Snotlout, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at Hiccup. "Do you think you are so good in fighting, huh?" He demanded angrily, "Fight me then! I will show you the difference between me, a true Viking, and you, a toothpick!".

Hiccup looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow, "Astrid normally challenge me into a duel once a month." He stated tonelessly, "If she challenged me again this month, feel free to join and we can fight".

"Now that you mention it, Hiccup." Astrid smirked at Hiccup, "It's time for our monthly duel." She reminded cheekily and confidently, "Why don't we have our duel an hour after lunch? That way I would have enough rest and would be ready for a duel, and I can watch you beat Snotlout's ass after our duel".

"Astrid!" Snotlout gasped in shock, "What are you saying, babe? Are you telling me that Useless will win against me?".

Astrid looked at Snotlout with a scowl, "I said so earlier." She replied in annoyance, "And I'm not your 'babe' ".

"Sure, we will duel in here an hour after lunch." Hiccup answered to Astrid suggestion, "Anyway . . ." He smiled at the girl, "Good job today, Astrid. Your reflex is good and you are strong, keep it up and you will be ready to fight a dragon for real soon enough." _As painful as it is for me_, he added in his mind.

Astrid smirked in satisfaction, she was proud of herself that she could be ready to fight dragon for real soon.

"Alright! That's for today, you can go." Gobber said to the teens, "Hiccup, clean up the arena, and don't forget to feed the dragons. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, don't you dare to skip cleaning the dragon pens again after Hiccup finished feeding them".

The twins groaned, they didn't clean the pens after Hiccup finished the day before, so they were punished to clean the pens for a whole week. "Alright." They said in defeat.

"Sure, Gobber." Hiccup answered as he began carrying the boards Gobber used as a maze for today's training, while the othe teens and Gobber headed out of the arena, all but Astrid.

"Let me help you." Astrid offered as she picked up one of the boards.

Hiccup looked at her in surprise before smiling happily, "Thank you." He said before together they brought the boards into a special room where Gobber placed all the stuffs needed for the training. They work in silence, but it was a comfortable one, and not the awkward silence type that he often experienced when he was with his Father. "Okay, this is the last one." Hiccup said before putting the board into the room and closed the door without bothering to lock it, "Thank you for your help, Astrid".

Astrid nodded, "Do you need help with feeding the dragons?" She asked curiously.

"No, I can do it alone." Hiccup answered with a smile.

Astrid nodded again, "Alright, hurry up and feed the dragons so you can join us eating lunch in the Great Hall." She said with a small smile.

Hiccup shook his head, "I'm sorry, but no." He said apologetically, she raised an eyebrow at him, "You know that only you and Fishlegs who will accept me eating together with you guys, so I will just eat by myself".

Astrid frowned, "You don't have to mind them, you know." She said with a bit of disappointment before looking at Hiccup with determination in her eyes, "Don't be late for our duel." She said sternly before walking away.

Hiccup sighed as he watched Astrid go, he wondered what was in the girl's head sometimes, she could go from smiling to scowling in an instant.

Hiccup went to the dock and get the cart with the baskets of fishes for the dragons before heading back to the arena, he quickly feed the dragons, making sure to give Stormfly a nice scratch as an apologize for what Astrid done to her, before he went to his house. He picked up a basket filled with fishes from the kitchen, he had gone fishing in the morning before the training, so he could went to the cove right after he fed the other dragons. He was a bit delayed because he had to clean up the arena, but he still had plenty of time before his duel with Astrid.

"Toothless~!" Hiccup called out happily as he entered the cove, his Night Fury purred at the sight of him and began walking towards him, "I bring food for you." He said as he put down the basket and pushed it over so the content spilled onto the grassy ground, he took one from the pile and set it aside, "Enjoy it." He said to his dragon before going to gather some logs for a fire, as he tried to light the pile of logs, he was pushed aside by his dragon. "What?" Hiccup asked to no one as he watched his dragon shot a small fire ball into the pile of twigs, "Oh! you made the fire for me." He grinned at his dragon, "Thank you, Toothless".

The name Toothless was actually because the image of his dragon's toothless gums had stuck in his head, he didn't know since when, but he began referring to his dragon as Toothless.

Toothless showed him his toothless smile before returning to his pile of fishes and began eating while Hiccup began cooking his fish. "You know, I have something to call you with but I forgot to tell you my name." He looked at his dragon, "My name is Hiccup." He said with a smile. The Night Fury crooned softly at him as if trying to say his name in his own language before cocking his head to the side, Hiccup chuckled, "Strange name, I know." He agreed, "The Vikings had this believe that hideous name would frighten off gnomes and trolls." He explained before shaking his head, "But I would say their Viking demeanor would do the job better".

Hiccup jumped when he heard the dragon version of laugh, he looked at the dragon and saw amusement shone in his eyes, he didn't know that his dragon could be so expressive. He smiled at his dragon and began chuckled as well, "Yeah . . ." He said in agreement, "It's silly".

Hiccup ate his cooked fish happily, feeling content to just sat there leaning on his dragon's side while eating his fish, he didn't get this comfortable when he ate with his Dad. During the rare times when his Dad was home and they got to eat together, they would have a short and yet awkward conversation before ending in an awkward silence. With Toothless, the silence was comfortable, they just simply enjoying each other company.

Hiccup was so comfy relaxing beside his dragon that he was reluctant to go, but the sky told him that it was time to go. "I need to go, buddy." He said with a sigh as he stood up before looking at his dragon, "I promised to have a duel with . . . a friend of mine, I guess." He explained when he caught the questioning look of his dragon, "See you tomorrow, Toothless." Toothless purred and nuzzled him at the chest, Hiccup smiled and pat the dragon at the head before jogging out of the cove then towards the village.

He entered his house and headed for his bedroom where he kept his Wing Blades. Astrid was a master at using her axe to do many things, and if he fought her with his twin rods, he would lose in a matter of seconds. It would be dangerous to lose his title as the best fighter, because then the village would only see him as the clumsy boy who destroyed the village nearly as much as the dragons. He could get banished immediately if he lose the only thing keeping the villagers to throw him out, so there's no way he would duel Astrid without his dual swords, he need them to match with Astrid's strength.

"There he is." Astrid commented as he arrived at the arena, "I thought you lost in the forest".

Hiccup laughed dryly, "Yeah, like I didn't know the forest like the back of my own hand." He muttered sarcastically, more to himself than to the others, as he walked to the spot across from Astrid.

"The rule is the usual." Gobber began as Hiccup and Astrid stood across each other, "You will fight until one of you lose your weapons and had the other's weapon near your neck, the time is not limited and you are forbidden to injure your opponent at their vital spot".

"Are you ready to lose?" Astrid asked Hiccup with a smirk on her face.

Hiccup smirked back as he unsheathed both of his swords, normally it would be unfair if he use both of his swords while Astrid only had one axe, but Astrid insisted that he used both of his swords to make sure that her victory was not because Hiccup wasn't at his best, and got to a battle stance. "That's my line, Astrid." He answered calmly.

Their duel started without waiting for Gobber to announce it, because the second he said those words left his lips, they charged at each other. Astrid swung her axe at him and he blocked it with his two swords for a split second before he darted out of the way.

As strong as his Wing Blades were until they would be able to handle the force of Astrid's axe, it would raise suspicion if such a thin swords like his could stand such a force. The people would questioned him about it until he told them the truth about his swords, and he couldn't let that happen, so he had to avoid clashing his swords against Astrid's axe as much as possible, and it they clashed, it's only for a short time as well.

Astrid had strength and speed on her side, as well as a good maneuverability, while Hiccup was a clumsy boy. If he was a normal boy, he would surely lost to Astrid, but he was never their normal Viking boy. Hiccup might be so clumsy that he could trip on his own feet, but he had a good reflex, speed, agility, and quick wits. They were more than enough to make up with his clumsiness and lack of strength, he could spar with Astrid and any other Vikings just fine.

Hiccup got behind Astrid in a matter of second and launched his own attack, swinging the sword in his right hand horizontally at the height of Astrid's shoulder, with the blunt side of his sword of course.

Another thing that separated Hiccup from the other Vikings was his style of fighting, while Vikings relied on brute strength and attack up front way, Hiccup chose to observe his opponent's weakness and used it for his advantage. Vikings disliked his way of fighting because they saw it as cowardice, relied on stealth like that and attacking from point blank, so even if the Vikings acknowledged his skill in fighting, he was still not accepted among the tribe.

Hiccup could understand it, because as far as he know, the Vikings used his style of fighting when it comes to dragons. He remembered what Gobber said to the teens during their training with Stormfly earlier, the blacksmith had clearly said to find the dragon's blind spot, hide in it, and strike. So what's the difference between the Vikings attacking dragons from their blind spot and him attacking his opponent from their own 'blind spot'?

Astrid already predicted that Hiccup would attack her from behind and swiftly turned around while ducking to evade Hiccup's attack, then she swung the blunt side of her axe to hit Hiccup at the torso. What she didn't expect was for Hiccup to use her own axe to his advantage, using the handle of the axe as a jumping stone and jumped above her head, then he landed gracefully behind her before sending a kick that sent her tumbling forwards.

Hiccup saw his chance as soon as he kicked Astrid, the girl had managed to regain her balance and turned around to face him again. But instead of using the handle of Astrid's axe as a jumping stone, Hiccup snatched the axe from the girl's hand with his right hand and threw it aside while swinging the sword in his left hand, his left hand halted just as the sharp edge of his sword touch the girl's neck harmlessly.

"Hiccup won the duel!" Gobber announced proudly, he was proud that his apprentice had won the match.

"My win again, Astrid." Hiccup said with a victory smirk on his face.

Only in a moment like this allowed him to feel like he could breath among his tribe, when he didn't need to hide behind his sarcastic side and let his face to show his true feelings for all to see.

Astrid huffed and pushed his sword away from her neck, "I was shocked, you just lucky to catch me off guard." She said calmly before smirking at Hiccup, "I will definitely win the next one".

"You said it last month, you know?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the girl.

Astrid acowled in response before smirking again, "Well, at least I got to see you kick Snotlout's ass." She said while motioning at the said boy with her eyes, "Let him know who is the boss".

Hiccup chuckled as he heard the words, "Gladly, Milady." He said with a confident smirk and nodded before raising an eyebrow at Snotlout, completely missing Astrid's slightly blushing face at hearing him calling her 'Milady' before the girl hurriedly to the other teens's side, "Do you still want to duel me?" He asked in challenge.

"Of course!" Snotlout answered before walking to where Astrid previously stood before the match, "I will show you that you are nothing compared to a true Viking like me." He snarled angrily.

_You are going to regret boasting like that when you don't even have an experience with fighting against my fighting style, cousin._ Hiccup thought with an amused smirk, "You are on." He said simply.

"The rules are the same!" Gobber called out to them, "Ready?!" He asked since the match would be different from the one with Astrid, Snotlout wouldn't know when to start without being announced. The two boys got into battle stance, "Fight!".

Snotlout immediately charged at Hiccup and swung his mace, while Hiccup simply moved aside and quickly kick his cousin at the butt, sending the boy face planted on the ground. Snotlout scowled in anger and jumped to his feet before charging at Hiccup again, and again Hiccup simply moved to the side to avoid the attack.

Snotlout was too prideful of himself and often gloated over something small that he managed to do, so Hiccup was using this time to get his cousin know his place, to stop his cousin from gloating over nothing. No one told him that he couldn't enjoy himself while doing it.

"Stop playing around!" Snotlout yelled angrily as he charged at Hiccup again.

Hiccup granted the boy's wish and stopped playing around. In a swift movement, he swung his right hand and hit his cousin's wrist to make the boy drop the mace, then he easily kicked Snotlout from behind the knee, causing his cousin to fall and landed on his back. He then stabbed at the space near Snotlout's neck, "There, I stop playing." He said with a smirk.

"Hiccup won the match!" Gobber announced happily, a big grin on his face.

A loud cheer caught Hiccup's attention, he looked around and noticed that the arena was surrounded by Vikings, by those who were staying behind to protect the village in case a raid happened while the others were out to search the Nest. They might dislike Hiccup's fighting style, but they were still Vikings and Vikings like to watch competition, they cheered when Hiccup won the duel.

Hiccup smiled at them and raised his hand, "Is there anyone who want to challenge me?" He asked them confidently, earning a cheer from the crowd again, since it would mean they could watch another match or even had a match themselves to kill some boredom.

"I'm in!" Phlegma The Fierce yelled out her challenge.

Hiccup nodded at her and get into his battle stance, he knew that he would likely to fight with many people that day, but he didn't care, it's nice to have the people to not avoiding him once in a while. It's only once a month that he could have such a chance, when Astrid usually challenged him and he won, the day would always changed into a day for the other Vikings to challenge him and they would have a great day together.

It's only once a month that he could feel like he belong among his tribe.

XXXXX

" . . . and with one twist, it took my hand ... and swallowed that whole."

After spending most of the day watching Hiccup sparring with most of the villagers, or having the said matchs in Hiccup's case, Gobber invited the teens to have a late dinner together in the newly built watch tower. They had started the dinner with commenting Hiccup's moves earlier, or mocking it in Snotlout's case, before Gobber decided to tell the teens the story of how he lost his hand and leg.

Hiccup wasn't paying attention as he had already heard the story more than he could remember, and each time he heard his mentor told him the story, there would be always a part of the story that was changed.

"I saw the look on it's face, I was delicious." Gobber continued as he swinging around his roasted chicken, "It must have passed the words, because not even a month before another one took my leg." He finished ominously while showing his peg leg.

The teens, aside from Astrid and Hiccup, breathed out an 'oooh' in awe. Hiccup heard Fishlegs said something that sounded weird and Snotlout sucked up with Gobber saying something along the line of doing something to every dragon he fought with his face, he tuned them out and focused in eating his food since he was so tired after fighting against so many people, he was starving.

"Nn-nn!" Gobber tried to protest as wiped his mouth, "It's the wings and tails that you really want, if it can't fly, then it can't fly away." He ripped his one of chicken's wings then waved it towards the teens, "A downed dragon is a dead dragon".

That got Hiccup's attention and he froze in the midst of bitting into his fish, strange that he didn't lose his appentite towards fish after eating the fish Toothless regurgitated for him. His mind repeated Gobber's words as his eyes didn't see what was in front of him anymore, what he saw was his Night Fury with his left tail fin ripped off.

A downed dragon is a dead dragon . . .

No tail fin means no flying . . .

No flying means that Toothless was grounded . . .

Grounded means that Toothless was a downed dragon . . .

**A downed dragon is a dead dragon.**

Toothless was a downed dragon, meaning that he was as good as dead, **his dragon was as good as dead!** _**Odin, no!**_ Hiccup thought in horror as his face paled drastically, _No, not __**my**__ dragon!_

He looked at the others, they looked excited as they listened to Gobber about how they would slowly made their way towards the Monstrous Nightmare, he couldn't care less about it at the moment as he silently made his way out of the tower and ran as fast as he could to the forge.

No one even noticed his absence, no one . . . that's if you didn't include Astrid, who noticed his empty spot and walked to the stairs just in time to see the end of Hiccup's right boot disappearing around the corner. _Where is he going in such a hurry?_ Astrid thought to herself in confusion.

XXXXX

Hiccup placed his book on top of his desk in his personal work space and opened his book where he had drawn Toothless, the one he made to figure out the reason why his dragon couldn't fly out of the cove, then he draw the left tail fin with a serious look on his face.

"I was the one who made the thing that caused you to lose your tail fin, Toothless." He breathed softly to himself as he stared at the newly drawn left tail fin on his book, "I will be the one who give it back to you, I will let you fly again." He vowed to himself and nodded his head in determination, "I won't let my dragon to die".

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : Sorry for the late update. Review Please ^ ^


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Disclaimer : I Don't own HTTYD!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

"Dialogue"

Letter

**Emphasis**

"Finally, it's done!" Hiccup said in triumph as he looked at his latest invention, the left tail fin for Toothless. He had worked for a long time, considering it's the first time he made a dragon's tail fin, and by the time he finished, it's already morning.

"What is done?" Hiccup jumped when he heard Astrid's voice rang out so suddenly, he immediately closed the tail fin and turned around to face the Viking girl, "What is it, Hiccup?" Astrid asked curiously as she eyed the tail fin.

"Uh, no- nothing, just- just an experiment." Hiccup answered nervously.

Astrid narrowed her eyes, "Hiccup, you're stuttering." She stated calmly as she looked straight at Hiccup's eyes, "You only do that when you are nervous or trying to hide something, so, what is it? And don't you dare to lie".

Hiccup bit his lower lip and looked away from her, "Why would you want to know?" He asked instead.

"Just curious." Astrid said with a sigh as she entered the room before looking at the blueprint behind Hiccup, "I don't know what you are planning to do, but I have a feeling that it had something to do with a dragon that no one ever seen, aside from you of course".

Hiccup's eyes widened in surprise, "Where do you get such an idea?" He asked nervously and with a bit of fear.

Astrid merely looked at Hiccup with a raised eyebrow and pointed at Hiccup's book, which was opened on the page where he draw Toothless, causing Hiccup to gasp in shock, he couldn't believe that he forgot to close the book. "I couldn't recognize it as one of the dragons in Dragon Manual, and the only one I have yet to see is the Night Fury due to the fact that there's so little information about Night Fury in the book." She explained as she touched the drawing, her index finger then tapped softly on the left tail fin, "You had erased the part on the left tail fin, but then you re-draw it." She looked at Hiccup straight in the eyes, "I'm guessing that this dragon is injured and you are helping it".

Blood drained from Hiccup's face, he looked at Astrid with horrified expression and his hands trembled. "A- Astrid . . ." He began fearfully, "Please. Please don't tell anyone, they will banish me." He pleaded as he put the tail fin on the desk.

"It's true then?" Astrid asked softly in surprise, Hiccup nodded in defeat, "You are aware that you are betraying your own tribe, right?".

"Yes." Hiccup said with a sigh, "It doesn't really matter though, sooner or later, I would get banished from Berk eventually since I refused to kill dragons. I don't really care, I have made some preparation in case I really get banished, but I couldn't get banished now, I still need to use the forge".

Astrid's eyebrows shot up and she looked at Hiccup with wide eyes, she would never thought that Hiccup had prepared himself for banishment, let alone accepted it so easily. If she heard right, what Hiccup implying was that he only need some time to finish whatever he need to do in the forge and he wouldn't care even if she told everyone about his betrayal.

She looked straight at Hiccup's eyes and she could see determination in there, with a bit of fear hidden beneath it. She remembered that expression, she had seen that look on Hiccup's face when he denied Stoick the Vast in front of the whole village, the day he firmly stated that he refused to kill any dragon unless it's the only thing he could do to survive.

Astrid, just like any other girls in Berk, had learn how to be a tough girl just like the Vikings in her village. She wasn't supposed to show any sympathy towards someone who refused to kill dragons, but she couldn't bring herself to be cold at Hiccup like the other teens, minus Fishlegs of course. She didn't know nor understand why Hiccup refused to kill dragons, no one in the village did, not even Hiccup's own father . . . but unlike the rest, Astrid respected Hiccup's decision.

She inhaled deeply. She had admired Hiccup for his fighting skill and smart brain, something that was rare in a village full of Vikings, and she had seen trait in the boy that would make him a great Chief in the future. She didn't know why, but she found herself couldn't stomach the thought of Hiccup getting banished from Berk, so she might as well come clear with the reason why Hiccup refused to kill dragons.

"A year ago . . ." Astrid began softly, surprising Hiccup since they had been silent for a long time, "I saw you fought against a Monstrous Nightmare. I was on my way to try and put down the fire in the village when I heard an explosion from the forge." She smiled at Hiccup's shocked expression, "I see that you remembered that day".

Hiccup nodded, he could remember that day as if it's only the day before, "Gobber was out helping the others fighting dragons and I was in charge of the forge." He said as the memory being played in his mind once again, "A Viking was stupid enough to try and fight a Nightmare alone, I saw the Viking threw a bola at the Nightmare from the window." He sighed and shook his head, "The Nightmare simply burned the bola and attacked the Viking, it's not a long time before the Viking nearly got himself killed by the Nightmare".

"And you came to the rescue." Astrid continued for Hiccup, "The Viking was unconscious by then, so he didn't know what happened that night and you lied by saying that the Nightmare lose interest because it saw a sheep, never mind the fact that all the sheeps were with Spitelout and Hoark at the time." She chuckled as Hiccup blushed in response to her words, "I figured that you didn't want to get more pressured to kill dragons, so I keep it a secret that you were the one who fought the Nightmare using your newly made twin rods. If I remember it correctly, you fought neck to neck with the dragon until it had to retreat along with the other dragons".

Hiccup nodded in confirmation, "Yes, we did." He then looked at Astrid with a raised eyebrow, "Why are you telling me this now though?".

Astrid carefully moved the stuffs on Hiccup's desk aside until she had a space where she could sit on, then sat on the desk and motioned for Hiccup to sit on the chair in front of her. "I told you about it because I want to know the real reason why you refused to kill dragons." She said with a soft voice that she rarely used, "We were friends, Hiccup, and we are still friends now, even though we aren't as close as before when we were 5 years old brats." She looked at Hiccup seriously, "I won't tell anyone about this, I will keep it a secret for you. So please, Hiccup, tell me".

Hiccup couldn't believe his ears, he always thought that all Astrid want was to be a Shield Maiden and to kill dragons so she could regain her family's honor, but here his crush promised to keep his secret and pleaded for him to tell her. _It's turn out that I was wrong when I thought no one care about me aside from Gobber in here_, he thought as he smiled softly at the girl he has a crush since he was so small. Astrid had taken a leap of faith by saying that she would keep his 'betrayal' a secret, so it would only fair if he did the same.

"Alright, I will tell you everything." Hiccup said with a smile, earning a smile from Astrid as well, "You remember Gobber told you that dragons would always go for the kill, right?" Astrid nodded in answer, "It's wrong." He stated firmly as he locked gaze with Astrid, "If it's like what Gobber said then I would die 8 years ago, and many other times when I came across with a dragon alone in the forest".

"What happened 8 years ago?" Astrid asked curiously, "Something had happened, I assume, something that changed your believe about dragons".

"You are right." Hiccup confirmed, "Around 8 years ago was the day I found out that dragons aren't what Vikings believe they are." He inhaled deeply and prepared himself to tell Astrid everything, "8 years ago was the day I was saved by a Night Fury, my Night Fury".

Hiccup then told Astrid everything. About his experience with Toothless 8 years ago, his decision to sneak into the training ring at night to get to know the dragons and sneaked them treat since the dragons was poorly cared, about the time he finally collected enough of Toothless's scales to make his Wing Blades with Stormfly's help, and then continued to that fateful night when Gobber accidentaly shot his Night Fury with Mangler, how he had immediately went to the woods to free Toothless, and how he found out that Toothless had trapped in the cove due to his left tail fin ripped apart from the fall.

"Gobber said that a downed dragon is a dead dragon." Hiccup said sadly as he was feeling guilty again, "I don't want that, I would rather die myself than letting my dragon to die. He was always watching over me, protecting me from the other dragons during a raid, be there for me when I was alone in the woods. He might never showed himself before, but I knew he was there and I could felt his presence so I wouldn't feel lonely." He covered his face as his eyes began blurring from tears, he didn't want for Astrid to see him cry, "Everyone in the village avoiding me, only you, Gobber, and Fishlegs who didn't treat me with cold shoulders, even my own Dad always see me as a disappointment for refusing to kill dragons. When I couldn't stand it anymore and need some time alone, I would always went to the forest so I could let it out and be myself, and Toothless would always be there for me, his presence always calmed me like a brother that I don't have".

Astrid looked at Hiccup sadly, she felt bad that she didn't try to treat him more friendly before now, what kind of friend was she if she didn't even know that her friend was suffering?

"I care for him, Astrid, I love him like my own brother." Hiccup continued with watery voice, "It's all my fault that he lose his tail fin, it's my fault. If only I didn't create Mangler, he would still be up there in the sky, free and not grounded. A downed dragon is a dead dragon, I know that it's true, and Toothless will die if I don't help him. I can't let that happen, ever, I don't want to lose him. I would never forgive myself if he die or get hurt because of me".

Astrid hesitated only a split second before she pulled Hiccup to her arms into a gentle embrace, "It's alright, you will get him back to the sky again, I know you will." She said as she rubbed his back, "Be strong, Hiccup, be strong so you can protect him".

Hiccup took a few deep breath to regain his composure and wiped his tears, he smiled at Astrid and nodded, "Yeah, I will get him back to the sky again." He agreed, "Thank you, for listening to me and for keeping this a secret for me, for me and Toothless".

"What are friends for?" Astrid asked simply with a shrug, but she failed to hide the faint blush on her face. She cleared her throat, "I would like to meet him, your dragon".

Hiccup grinned, "Sure." He said in agreement, "Just in time too. I'm going to go to the cove to bring him food and try out the new tail fin".

"Is that it?" Astrid asked as she looked at Hiccup's latest invention.

Hiccup nodded, "Yeah, I made it earlier." He explained as he stood up, "Could you help me get some fishes from the storage? I didn't have the time to go fishing today, so I think we can borrow some from the storage and then returned it bit by bit." He said with a grin.

Astrid snorted, "Oh come on, it's not like a few fishes missing would mean much." She said as she get down from the desk.

"Not only a few, Astrid, a whole basket." Hiccup reminded her, "Toothless is a dragon, he eat more than us".

"Right." Astrid said with a sheepish look, "So I will go and get the fishes, what are you going to do and where are we going to meet up?".

"I need to get the tail fin to the woods without anyone noticing, and carrying a basket filled with fishes while carrying the tail fin would be very noticable." Hiccup explained to her, "You only need to bring the fishes to the forest behind my house, I will carry them the rest of the way so we could get to the cove faster, we need to move fast if we want to get to dragon training in time".

"What are we waiting for then?" Astrid asked with a grin, "I'm going to get the fishes!" She said before running out of the forge.

Hiccup smiled and shook his head, "As energetic as ever, that girl." He said to himself before going out of the forge himself, the tail fin in hands and his book in his pocket, the blueprint had been safely hidden in his desk's drawer.

Hiccup and Astrid met up at the woods behind Hiccup's house, they then walked together to the cove after Hiccup took the basket from Astrid and Astrid helped Hiccup carrying the tail fin.

"Oh, before I forget." Hiccup turned to look at Astrid at the entrace of the cove, "Are you carrying any weapon with you?" Astrid raised her axe in answer, "Leave it here".

"Why?" Astrid asked in confusion, but she did as she was told.

"Toothless would be very cautious of you if you carry your axe the first time you meet him." Hiccup explained, "The best way to gain a dragon's trust is to approach them weaponless, they wouldn't feel threatened and would give you a chance to approach them instead of attacking you right away".

"I see." Astrid said in understanding as they began walking again, "But you are carrying your swords with you".

"Yeah, I forgot to leave them at the house, but it doesn't matter since it's me." Hiccup shrugged, "The first time I came here with a dagger, Toothless's instinct made him acting cautious around me. I figured that he was very hungry at the time, so he didn't really recognize me until he ate one of the fishes I bought with me. When I was going back, I took the dagger back from the pond where I kicked it, he didn't mind it at all." He smiled at Astrid, "Just like how I care about him, he care about me, he doesn't care if I bring weapon with me since he knows that I would never harm him intentionally. In your case though, this is your first meeting with Toothless, so it would be best that you don't have any weapon with you".

"Because he doesn't trust me?" Astrid guessed, Hiccup nodded in answer, "I guess it's fair enough, but I'm a bit worried that he would attack me".

"He won't, I promise." Hiccup said before they entered the cove, "Toothless! Come out, bud. There's someone I want you to meet!" He called out as he looked around the cove for his dragon.

Astrid followed Hiccup's example and was looking around when she heard a soft growl behind her, she turned around and gasped in surprise when she come face to face with a big black dragon with forest green eyes.

"Ah, there you are." Hiccup, who heard Astrid's gasp, turned around and saw his dragon was staring curiously at Astrid, "You just like to surprise people, aren't you?" He asked with a chuckle, "Well, Astrid, this is Toothless, the Night Fury I told you about." Hiccup began to introduce them, "And Toothless." He motioned at Astrid as he looked at his dragon, "This is Astrid, my friend".

Toothless softly cooed at her and began moving to her, Astrid tensed and took a step back but Hiccup stopped her, "It's alright." Hiccup said softly as he took her hand, "He won't hurt you unless you hurt him first." He reassured her as he slowly brought her hand to the front of Toothless nostril, then slowly released Astrid's hand as Toothless began sniffing her hand.

Astrid held her breath as she watched the dragon sniffed her hand, she wondered what could Toothless tell by sniffing her hand when the dragon touched her palm with his head for a mere second before snorting at her and left her for Hiccup.

Hiccup chuckled and patted Toothless's head gently, "He accepted you as a friend, but he is still being cautious with you." He explained to Astrid's confused expression, "Don't worry, with time, I'm sure you both would be great friends".

Astrid nodded and smiled in agreement, "Yeah, I agree." She said before her eyes took a good look at the dragon in front of her, "So, is this what a Night Fury looks like?" She asked to no one in particular, from what she could see, the black dragon was more like a bat than a bird like in the case of the Nightmares or Nadders. "For a dragon with such a reputation, he sure is small." She couldn't help but commented, but then yelped when the said dragon narrowed his eyes at her and growled warningly.

Hiccup laughed, "Careful, Astrid." He said teasingly as he grinned at Toothless, "Toothless has a huge ego, calling him small might injure it." Toothless smacked him using his tail in response, earning a chuckle from Hiccup, "See?" He asked astrid and ducked before Toothless could smacked him again for that.

Astrid was awe struck, even though she had heard the story, witnessing Hiccup and Toothless's bond with her own eyes wasn't the same like hearing it. She was a bit doubtful that a dragon could show such compassion like what Hiccup told her, but now that she saw it with her own eyes, she couldn't help but believed it.

"Oh, right. We brought you breakfast, buddy." Hiccup said as he put the basket he carried down and tipped it over, "What do we got here, Astrid?" He asked curiously as he looked at the pile of fishes.

"I didn't want to risk being found out, so I took whatever in my sight." Astrid answered, "But I remember there's some Salmon, some nice Icelandic Cod, and a whole smoke eel".

Toothless, who was moving some fishes with his head when Astrid answered, moved back slowly with a growl.

Astrid blinked, "Huh? What's wrong?" She asked as she was confused with the dragon's sudden change in behavior.

"You said eel?" Hiccup asked as he began searching through the pile for the said eel, he found it and pulled it out from the pile, causing Toothless to jump back with a roar. "No, no!" Hiccup gasped before throwing the eel away from his dragon, "It's okay." He soothed as he raised a hand to Toothless to get him to calm down, "It's okay." Toothless sniffed at Hiccup's hand once before snorting and moved his attention to the pile of fishes, "Yeah, I don't like eel much either".

"Dragons don't like eels?" Astrid asked with interest.

"Yeah, as far as I know, all dragons hate eels." Hiccup informed her before leaning to whisper to her, "Scratch his head while he eat, distract him, I'm going to attach the tail fin now".

Astrid nodded and knelt down near Toothless's head, "Sorry about the eel." She didn't know why, but she apologized to the dragon, as absurd as it sounded. After that, she began scratching Toothless gently at the back of his head, earning a happy purr from the dragon while he ate, while her eyes looked at Hiccup who slowly walked to Toothless's tail.

Hiccup got close to the dragon's tail and carefully get the prosthetic tail fin near Toothless's tail, only for the Dragon to moved his tail away. Hiccup blinked, he looked at Toothless and Astrid to see that Toothless was still happily eating his breakfast while Astrid still scratching Toothless's head. He shrugged and moved the tail fin again, only to have the same result before the tail moved up and down.

Hiccup growled softly and sat on the tail to prevent any other movement and quickly, once he finished fastening the buckle, he smiled. "I think this will work." He said to himself as he looked at his latest creation, "I just need to see if this tail fin will be enough for Toothless to fly again".

Astrid looked up when she heard Hiccup's words before noticing that Toothless's jaw had dropped, she looked at Hiccup with an uneasy smile, "You're going to get your wish, Hiccup." She said as a warning for the boy, she stepped back to get out of the way when Toothless unfolded his wings.

"What?" Hiccup looked behind him to ask Astrid what she mean by that, but before he could even said another word, he found himself screaming while tightly holding his dragon's tail.

Astrid watched in awe as she saw Toothless took off, although she was a bit worried about Hiccup, she couldn't help but wondering what it feels to fly.

Hiccup wasn't as calm as Astrid, his heart was beating so fast that he though it would break his ribs. Having to cling tightly on his dragon's tail was scary enough, but to notice that his dragon was falling and they were going to crash? He swallowed his fear and opened the tail fin with his hand, since he noticed that the tail fin was closing against the wind instead of opened like Toothless's real fin, he soon found himself grinning in excitement when he felt Toothless didn't fall anymore and began to fly again.

"Yes! It's working!" Astrid could hear Hiccup's triumphant cry and had to smile, at least now Hiccup would be less worried about Toothless, with Toothless being able to fly again. She watched as Toothless turned around to fly over the lake, "Yes! Yes, I did it!" She heard Hiccup cried in triumph again and chuckled, but her chuckle died when she saw Toothless looking back at Hiccup and widened his eyes in shock and fear. She was confused, she could understand the shock, but why fear?

Toothless, as much as he was bittersweet with that name, he still cherished it for it was the name his hatchling gave him even though he disliked the meaning of his new name, looked back when he heard his hatchling's voice. His eyes widened in shock and fear when he saw his hatchling brother clinging on his tail, he wondered what in the world going on in his Hiccup's mind to make him did something like clinging to a flying dragon's tail, it's very dangerous!

He looked up and cursed when he noticed how close to the rock wall he was before taking a sharp turn to avoid a crash, he felt Hiccup's weight left his tail and looked down to see his hatchling brother fell into the lake. He sighed in relief, at least his hatchling was safe now, but then his relief turned into dread when he felt that his tail wasn't in balance again. He looked back and saw that there's a contraption on the left side of his tail fin, but the thing was fluttering uselessly at the moment, he cried out in annoyance as he fell into the lake as well.

"Yeah!" He heard his hatchling's cry of excitement not long after, he broke to the surface and saw that Hiccup was swimming to the shore, so he swam to him and picked him at the back of his vest with his jaws before swimming to the shore so they could get out of the lake faster. He put his hatchling back onto his feet before shaking the water off of his scales, his hatchling laughed when some water droplets hit him before grinning widely, "I did it!" Hiccup exclaimed excitedly as he threw his arms around Toothless's neck, "The tail fin works! You can get back to the sky again!".

Toothless crooned softly in agreement, although he wanted to reminded his hatchling that he need Hiccup to fly since he couldn't control the new tail fin, it's too bad that his hatchling couldn't understand him. Fortunately, his hatchling was so smart that he was sure his hatchling would already know it, so he just enjoyed the feeling of his hatchling on his scales, so light and gentle like a feather and yet warm like the sun.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called out with a grin as she ran to the pair of dragon and boy, "You did it!" She said excitedly.

"Yeah! I did it!" Hiccup said excitedly as well as he released Toothless to look at Astrid, "I did it, I help him fly again".

Astrid grinned and pulled Hiccup into a hug without thinking, "I was worried, you nearly crashed into the wall earlier." She said honestly before pulling back, only then that she noticed their position and Hiccup's shocked expression, she blushed in embarassment, "Sorry." She said in whisper as she released him.

"It's . . . okay, I guess." Hiccup said in whisper as well, his face was blushing hard as he couldn't believe that Astrid has just hug him.

The last time Astrid hug him was to comfort him when he was having a break down, again, because he was consumed by his guilt, but now? He was sure that Astrid wasn't the type to hug people to congratulate them, so he didn't know why Astrid would hug him just now.

Astrid cleared her throat, "Um, let's get out of here." She said as she turned her face away from Hiccup to hide her blush, "We need to go now or we are going to be late".

"Yeah." Hiccup said in agreement as he also looking away, "But I think you need to go first, people would get suspicious if they see us walking out of the forest together".

"You're right." He heard Astrid answered him before hearing the girl jogged out of the Cove, he sighed and buried his face on his dragon's scaly neck, "Oh, Toothless." He muttered softly, "It's so hard acting casual in front of the girl whom you like".

He felt Toothless shaking his head before letting out a croon that had a teasing tone in it, he pulled away and looked at Toothless's face to see his dragon looking at him with knowing and yet mischievous eyes.

He pouted, "What are you looking at?" He asked accusingly, only earning a chuckle from his dragon brother, he pouted even more, "Not helping." He muttered sulkily, which only served to amuse Toothless even more.

To be continued . . .

Froim : Sorry for the late update. Review Please ^ ^


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